


7tale

by Funonion, starryflowers



Series: The Adventure [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Flavor Text Narrator Chara (Undertale), Near Death Experiences, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2019-11-14 02:35:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 26,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18043826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Funonion/pseuds/Funonion, https://archiveofourown.org/users/starryflowers/pseuds/starryflowers
Summary: A group of 7 friends fall into the underground. Along the way meet some very... Interesting characters. How will they cope with this new discovery?They don't, actually.They just keep moving forwards.





	1. The Gang Goes to Hell

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya folks! Enjoy reading.
> 
> 7tale is scheduled to update every friday as of now. Changes may be made in the future.

**[Long ago, two** **races ruled over Earth: HUMANS and MONSTERS.**  
**One day, war broke out between the two races.**  
**After a long battle, the humans were victorious.**  
**They sealed the monsters underground with a magic spell.]**  
  
“Damn, that still sucks.” Rivera stated, flipping to the next page. After a search through the library, just to evade the boredom summer brought, a group of seven friends had found an old book down in the history section, simply labeled ‘THE MYTHOLOGY OF HUMANS AND MONSTERS.’ Deciding it looked mysterious enough, Rivera took it upon themselves to read it aloud to everyone, which thus led to the decision of another spontaneous thing to do.  
  
That decision being to drive out six hours to the forest the small mountain (or just a really big hill) was prominently placed in. The group knew it was silly, pointless, maybe even dangerous to do this. But they were bored. Admittedly, not a great reason, but being stuck with someone like Lexi with nothing to do isn't great either. Nevada had put in their two cents, saying they considered this to be able to be a bonding experience. After all when your stuck with someone for six hours in a car, the most you can do is talk. 

Once they were done trekking through the forest, with surprisingly no mishaps or somebody getting lost and wandering to their death, they stood in front of the glorified rock.

They were going to scale the mountain.

Thumb rubbing over the yellowing pages, Rivera sighed, continuing to read over the pages one last time, for 'dramatic effect' as they said. Lexi had complained it was unnecessary to read it again, dramatic effect or not.

“Humans; Imperialist fucks.” They grumbled in between.

“Yeah…” Geneva shrugged. She pushed up her big glasses that were threatening to fall off, peering over Rivera's shoulder.

 **[Many years later…**  
**Mt. Ebott. 201x**  
**It’s said that those who climb the mountain, never return.]**

“Okay, call me superstitious as hell, but why are we climbing the mountain if no one-" Royal gives an uncomfortable smile, looking like she's just now realizing what she's saying and how undoubtedly insane it is to do this, and how she probably should have voiced her doubts louder and a lot earlier, "-returns from it."

“You know,” Rivera replied, closing the book and shoving it back into their worn out backpack. All the while winking, putting their finger to their lips in a silly fashion. 

Royal shrugged. “Okay, fair.” She moved a loose strand of her hair from her face, staring at the mountain apprehensively. It was clear she didn't really think it was fair, but trying to get an actual answer would be fruitless, seeing as how there wasn't really one. Sometimes, the group just wanted to do something for no apparent reason. It kept things interesting.  

Nevada, still gazing off into the distance at the scenery, seeming much too interested in a patch of flowers, cuts in without so much of a glance at the others, “It’s Bermuda's triangle, but land edition.” Rivera gave a loud snort.

“Okay, so we got cryptid places for land and ocean. What do we got for the sky?” Scout asked, looking up at the clear sky to emphasize their point.

Breanne hummed. “I thought that was kind’ve intertwined with Bermuda’s triangle. Cause it's mostly planes and boats getting caught in there.”  
  
“True, true. I’ll give you that.”

Silence washes over, each person seemingly observing the mountain (excluding Nevada, who was now examining a pretty rock and ignoring everyone) but not for long, as Lexi abruptly slices through it with a loud voice.

“Okay, shut up. We’re at the dumb fucking mountain. Fuck.” She growled.  
  
Instead of being hurt, Rivera laughed. They shoved their foot towards the girl playfully, grinning. “You seem a bit more grumpy than usual!”

“You know damn well why I’m mad. Did you really have to take all the fucking fruit gushers?" Lexi crossed her arms, eyebrows burrowing. "And my monster drink? Really? I wouldn’t have gone if I knew you were this much of a dick.” She frowned heavily, making a dramatic imitation of a hurt expression.

“Hey now, the fruit gushers were free game. And some were already taken!” Rivera defended. Nevada hummed innocently in the background. “And you had like 20 other monster drinks! I said I was gonna take one!”

“Did I reply when you asked that?”

“No.”

"Then that wasn’t a yes, dipshit."

“Alright, I’m sorry,” Rivera said, not looking apologetic at all, “I’ll pay for a 24 box of monster when we get back.”

“Good. Then we’re settled.”

Nevada walked over to Rivera's side, pointing up to the top of the mountain with a sudden stick materialized in their hand that they surely grabbed off from the ground when no one was looking. “Question. Are we gonna camp out at base, or should we try to at least get some part of the way up?”

“It’s only 2. If we try to keep dinner to 8 with some lightly seasoned snacks here and there, I’m sure we can get partway and camp up there!” Rivera replied.

“Pff. 'lightly seasoned snacks' my ass, you _ate_ all of them,” Lexi sniped.

“Hey, that was the fruit gushers only. And they were free game, I’ve already won this round in court. Let’s go already!” Rivera grinned, making a dash up the mountain without even a pause of waiting. It was going to be a long day, they could tell, and they were ecstatic.

* * *

The sun had long set hours ago, being around midnight now. It had been a long day. They had actually managed to make it halfway up the mountain. It was no easy task, but with a bit of hustle, some complaining and hyperbole, they found their way. While the other's were sleeping soundly, Rivera was outside, gazing at the stars.

“This is entirely cheesy as fuck.” They sighed. “But I’m a huge dork, I guess. Who knows.”

“I dunno, I think I can confirm on that.” A sudden voice rang out, startling Rivera lightly. They glance behind them, relaxing at seeing Breanne standing there. She walked over and sat beside them, giving a look at the stars as well.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.” They fumbled.

“Nah, I wasn’t really asleep anyway. Nevada's not either. 'Rest are though, if you're wondering.” Breanne lazily smiled. “Same for you?”

“Basically. I’m tired I guess, but I also just feel too… Excited.”

“You always feel like that when we go mountain climbing.”

“Yeah, but…”

Rivera looked back up to the sky, twinkling with a thousand shining dots, scattered across the inky darkness. God this was pathetic, it was so _typical_. But in their heart, they would never get tired of just staring at the night sky for a little while. Pondering all of the earth's questions that they couldn’t ask in the daylight. And just thinking about the happiness brewing inside them.

“I never thought I would be seeing the world like this,” They finally answered, “I know I say that every goddamn time I do this, but really.”

“I know, having friends feels good.” Breanne said, ruffling their hair. They squealed a little, pulling her hand away.

“It really does. I wouldn’t trade this for the world.”

Breanne pulled them up to their feet, dragging them back to the tent. “I think the world just wants you to go back to bed.” 

* * *

Nevada poked at the ground with their stick, shuffling the excess dirt and dust around on the dark stone. After spending all day hiking, they all finally made it to the "top" of the mountain. Nevada wasn’t particularly upset about the hike, but it didn’t help that their legs felt like they were currently dying now. Just in front of them was the groups goal, a small cave carved into the mountain. They peered inside curiously for a moment, then turn back to the group.

"I'm already regretting agreeing to this, my legs feel like jello," Nevada sighed, "I also feel like we're in a horror movie, like, look at the cave!" Nevada vaguely gestured everywhere, "It's got to be full of ghosts. We're going to die." They said in mock-horror.  
  
“What makes you say that? The one from last march was creepier than this, actually.” Geneva commented, walking inside.

With caution, she bent down towards the vines wrapping around the large hole that fell inside. She watched with amazement as the dampness yet wonder gave it it’s own feeling.

"I may have to take a picture…” Geneva whispered, fishing out her phone.

"Atmosphere," Nevada replied. They stayed firmly planted in front of the cave, not moving to go inside until one more person did. It had a very strange atmosphere, the cave felt.. Different. Somehow. It wasn't exactly creepy, though they were unnerved, but it was as if it was magical or something. Either way, it was weird, and they were going to die, the end.

"Well, I did not camp out for three days to back out now," Rivera exclaimed, suddenly butting into the conversation. They gave a smile, but didn't make any steps towards the inside. "...Hey Lexi, you should see the cave first!"

“No.” Was her only reply, making it to where the other three were at. “Why would I want to? You guys are the ones who are so eager to go inside. I only came because you guys did. If it wasn’t for y’all wanting to do this, I’d be sitting at home right now.” She huffed, lifting her boot to brush a fallen leaf off of it.

"Don't rope me in with the others!" Nevada piped in, "I don't like camping. I like spending time with you guys a lot though and I don't have other friends, so... Anyways, since nobody else seems like they're going in, I’ll... Go, I guess."

“You guys always say you don’t like going camping, but then we always have a good time,” Rivera piqued, a singsong tone in their voice. Ignoring them, Nevada stepped into the cave, only lit by harsh sunlight flooding down into it from an opening up above. The mystic feeling of the place only intensified once Nevada was closer inside. They slowly stepped in further and examined the large, gaping hole in the center of the room. At a safe distance of course. Dust filled the air, bouncing around in the light.

"Aside from the murder hole it looks pretty nice in here!" They called out back to the others.

“Nevada’s right!” Geneva replied, finally breaking out of her own trance and standing up, satisfied with her picture.

“Cool, can I jump in?” Rivera asked, to Nevada’s dismay.

"I'm going to fight you until you stop thinking dying is cool." Nevada said, and backed up from the pit, feeling anxious about falling into it when too close. They idly leaned against a wall and squished their foot against one of the many vines and leaves circling the cave ground, before peeking out and calling to the others. “Guys! Come on already!”

“Yeah alright I’m- oh shit that’s a hole.” Royal gasped, walking just slightly too close to the center, before backing up. “Jesus. Um, for the sake of others safety maybe we should. Uh, back up a bit.”

“Official adults here, y'all gotta back up.” Breanne called, walking in with Scout. They looked around in wonder, before taking out their phone.

“Hold up. Lemme take a picture of this." Scout took out their phone, looking at the pit in wonder.

Geneva smiled. “See! We got the same idea.”

Lexi crossed her arms, giving a grumble and shuffling her feet, moving forward. But just as she tried to step into the cave, a thick vine snagged her foot, tripping her forward. Lexi let out a yelp, windmilling in an attempt to re-gain her balance, her body heading right into the hole.

“LEXI!” Geneva screamed, dashing forward and reaching out to grab her- narrowly missing, she lost her balance as well, toppling over as one by one the others desperately tried to grab a hold of them, only for the vines lining the ground tripping them over. It was like a spectacular scene of human dominoes, and it'd almost be funny in a way, if those dominoes weren't falling into a death pit and screaming for their lives.

They grasp at each other, trying to find a sliver of an opportunity to get back up, to leave and never do this again.  
  
But it's too late.  
  
The only thing to show anyone was here are the scuffs and footprints marked in the dirt.

“...Fuck.” Lexi whispered to herself, eyes closed and welling up with tears as she waited for impact, feeling oddly calm knowing she was about to die. Panic was still bubbling in her, rising in her throat and threatening to come out, but it was as if the wind rushing past her dulled it.

They fell,  
  
  
and fell,

and fell,

  
waiting for death to come.

 

But it never did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: The souls items in the game won't match up. For example, the person who has patience won't get the red ribbon and toy knife, the person who has bravery won't get the tough glove and manly bandanna, etc. (Though there is one persons that match up)
> 
> There isn't much a reason for this except for we're sticking to whatever the characters get its because they like it, not because the past souls had it. These people aren't the same souls that fell into the Underground, the group is just replacing Frisk. If this is something that will bother you, please stop reading the story now.


	2. The Gang Almost Dies to a Flower

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> F.

She couldn’t see shit.

Lexi was face down, on something that felt cushiony. What it was she couldn’t identify yet. But at the very least, she wasn’t dead yet, and oddly enough couldn’t feel any major injuries. There wasn’t any blood pooling under her- she was grateful for it but, it was...

Strange. A miracle nonetheless, though.

Groaning, Lexi pushed herself up onto her elbows, trying to support the rest of her aching body. It took her a few moments before she could shakily push herself onto her knees. With her eyes clearing out their blurriness, she could make out what pillowed her fall.

Oh.

A bed of golden flowers.

“...Bullshit!” Lexi screamed. _Flowers_? Really? It wasn’t even a thick layer of them, no, just one. She glanced up momentarily. Yeah, some tiny flowers definitely shouldn’t have saved her from that fall. If she wasn’t dead, and unless this was Hell or something it seemed like she wasn't, she should at least be suffering from major injuries. Wait… are her friends-?

With the loudness of her voice, or maybe just the aching pain that was hard to ignore, everyone else in the room groaned, shuffling up. Lexi lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, relief washing over her. The bed of weird magical flowers was thankfully big enough to have caught them all. When the fogginess cleared from their heads, and the soreness was simply a dull ache, they all stared at each other bug-eyed.

“Okay, so we fell into a cave... and lived.” Rivera stated.

“It’s hard to believe that some dinky ass flowers saved us.” Lexi grumbled, being the first one to stand on her feet. The others followed her motion, some slower then others, but after a few minutes and checking for injures they were all up and standing.

“Um. Cool.” Nevada said, though their expression made them look like they did not think this was cool, saved or not. They fiddle with the stick in their hand that had also, somehow, not broken in the fall. “Hey do… do we have our climbing gear?” They asked. Scout and Breanne looked at each other, faces turning pale.

“You brought it, right?” Scout asked.

“...I thought you had it.” Breanne whispered.

Lexi looked around wildly, noticing that they in fact didn't have anything that fell with them. She tugs at her hair, “Are we really so shit with communication as to have just forgot our climbing gear as we were about to climb?! What the fuck!” Lexi screamed, now harshly pulling. “Ugh! This is just- Ugh!” Her voice rapidly gets higher, and she muffles a near-shriek at the end.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Royal said, shuffling closer to Lexi, though standing a bit away at to not irritate her more. “We’re gonna figure this out.”

“Weren’t you the one who asked why were going out here if people don’t return?” Lexi growled, staring at the ground.

“Yeah, but those accounts are of like. Six small children. There’s seven of us and who lets six small children wander onto a mountain! Jesus Christ, no wonder they haven’t come back!” Royal said, before interrupting herself in shock. Lexi let out a huff, letting the hand gripping her hair fall to her side.

“Okay. There’s more of us. We’re alive. We’ll probably make it out of here. It’s a fucking mountain, we’ve been in ones before.”

“Yeah, but we’ve never fallen 50 feet into a mountain! With no food or water!” Nevada spoke up, fiddling getting worse. Their leg was fidgeting, itching as if it wanted to pace.

Breanne sensed their anxiety was heightening and reassuringly put a hand on their shoulder. “Well hey, flowers can grow here. Right? So there might be more food actually inside. And if it ends up going deeper, we’ll come right back here. And we’ll figure something out then. No need to worry, alright? We got this.”

Nevada didn’t say anything, but gave a nod. They wanted to voice more of their concerns- and they had plenty, but- it was hard to speak with their throat threatening to tighten.

“Are we ready to go?” Scout asked the others. Everyone gave a sound of approval. “Alright, let’s go then. Looks like the way is up ahead.” Breanne pointed out. With a nod, everyone got together. But before they could even move, Lexi noticed something out of the corner of her eye, bothering her enough to look. Peering down, she wandered her eyes over to see a small black button.

 

**MENU**

 

“...Fuck me. I shouldn’t press this.” Lexi, instead of just doing that, pressed it. A menu, like it said, did appear in her vision.

 

**LEXI**

**LVL 1**

**HP 20/20**

 

“...Well, I don’t have time to unpack all that.” Lexi confusingly stared at it, looking for anything else. She then noticed the words down at the bottom.

 

**CHARACTER STATUS:**

 

After pressing it, little sprites of themselves showed up on the screen, with a bright white arrow point at Lexi's. She squinted. It resembled a video game, almost. Lexi whirled around to the others.

“So Imma guess that’s, uh, the same info for you guys.” 

“...Yes.” Rivera replied, looking over what Lexi had just pulled up. “I would think the same.”

“I hate this. I don't understand what the fucks going on. I'm just- I’m ignoring this dumb shit for now, we can deal with it when we know where we are. Lets just go." Lexi hissed, a dark look on her face.

Even though she had said that, she made no effort to actually move forwards in the hallway. The group looked at the others, then back to Lexi. Breanne and Scout put it upon themselves to try and soothe her worries, seeing as how no one else seemed to know what to say, based on their awkward looks.

“Hey. We’re still here.” Breanne encouraged. “I know you usually like being in front, but do you want us to go ahead?”

“It’s a lot to handle. We’re ready when you are.” Scout added.

Lexi didn’t say anything. With a deep breath, she simply trudged onward, feet stomping and kicking up at the dirt angrily. She just wanted this stupid fucking adventure to be over and have a normal day. At the end of the supposed hallway, she came across an entryway, with a symbol engraved into it. It was clearly man-made.

“Oh, great. People used to or do live down here.” Lexi peered at the symbol.

“Monsters?” Rivera joked.

Lexi frowned, “God I wish.” If humans were down here, they’d likely be hostile. Maybe they’d have a better chance with monsters.

Walking into a pitch dark room, she found her way to the brightly lit up middle, in it being a single patch of vividly green grass. And a yellow flower with a bright smile plastered on it’s face.

Lexi stopped, her mind trying to process it.

_A yellow flower with a face._

“Oh, I’m right. Huh, okay, cool.” Rivera murmured, causing Nevada to shush them. Breanne and Scout watched with a careful eye.

“Howdy!” He (It? She was unsure on what this was, but...) greeted. “I’m Flowey! Flowey the Flower!”

“...Hi.” Lexi greeted back, nervous. What the fuck? Is she dead? Dreaming?

“Hmm... You’re new to the underground. Aren’tcha?”

Lexi held herself defensively, quickly trying to catalog all the ways they could escape if needed. “One… Could say. Yes.” She watched with just as careful of an eye as Breanne and Scout, holding back on sarcastic retorts for now, not knowing how to react to this… Monster? It had to be a monster.

“Golly, you must be so confused. Someone ought to teach you how things work around here! I guess little old me will have to do.” Flowey exclaimed. Lexi let out a small sigh.

“That would be nice, actually. Thank you.”

“Lexi hasn’t started to curse Flowey out. This is a surprise.” Royal whispered to Rivera, causing Nevada to shush the group once again. They thumped their stick against Royal, who let out a soft 'ow.'

“Ready?” Flowey asked. “Here we go!”

Lexi watched as the surroundings around her went black. The only thing left being Flowey and a red heart, in a small box in front of her. This was freaky, and she didn’t like it. But she was stuck in place. Which only increased her dislike of the situation. What was this strange place? Lexi contemplates if she really did die and go to Hell.

“Uh, dude-” Lexi started, before Flowey interrupted her.

“See that heart? That is your SOUL! The very culmination of your being.”

“Wow, you actually do have one, a shocker.” Rivera joked, thought it came out flat, their own anxiety seeping in.

Rivera jolted as suddenly their own soul replaced Lexi's, shining a bright yellow.

“If you’re not feeling up to it, you can even swap your friends soul out for another!” Flowey replied.

“Oh, Okay. Um. Hi.” Rivera finger gunned at him, before Lexi's soul was brought back out.

“You deserved that,” Lexi whispered, causing the duo to giggle and easing their worries for a second, before returning their attention to Flowey.

“Your soul starts off weak,” He explains, “But you can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV! What’s LV stand for? Why, LOVE of course!”

“Sounds fake, but okay,” Geneva whispered to Nevada, having them shush her. They were getting exhausted of shushing people.

“You want some LOVE, don’t you?” Before Lexi could reply, Flowey continued. Prick. “Don’t worry, I’ll share some with you!”

With a small wink, 5 white pellets floated into the air. Scout and Breanne continued to watch with caution, but Lexi was already getting bad feelings about it. Their gut told them that this flower was not someone that could be trusted. But they were already stuck there, and what could she do?

“Down here, love is shared through… Little white… “Friendliness Pellets!”

That was wrong. That didn’t sound right. That honestly didn't fit the description of those. It sounded so fake, and weird, and this was all coming from a talking flower. Anxiety brews in her stomach, Lexi keeping very still, the only movement she makes is to clench her fist.

“Are you ready? Move around, get as many as you can!” Flowey exclaimed. Lexi tried to move away from the pellets, feeling overwhelmed with the sense of danger, but one still hit- Oh, _God._ It- She couldn’t- she couldn’t _breathe_ , it hurt, it hurt- Lexi crashed onto the ground, _it hurt it hurt it hurt-_

1/20 HP.

“Lexi!” Nevada yelled in alarm, making a move to grab her only to be stopped short by Breanne who went quicker, yanking her out. Lexi’s soul was replaced with her own, bright green one, instead of the void-esque place just disappearing. Breanne froze.

“You **idiot** ,” He growled to her, “You think your noble trying to save your friend? In this world, it’s kill or be killed. Why would anyone pass up an opportunity like this?”

It didn’t seem matter to him that Breanne was at full HP, seeing how easy he brought Lexi down, and surrounded her soul with pellets in the blink of an eye.

“ **DIE**.”

He laughed, as the others stood in horrified shock. Rivera however cried out, “Breanne!”

But just as the pellets were about to hit, a fire lit up the dark room. Flowey looked confused for a moment, before being promptly thrown out of the room by a fireball crashing into him. The group blinked, still as a stone with adrenaline racing through them.

They watched as a tall, humanoid goat-like creature gently walked into view. She wore a long purple robe with the same symbol the doorway had. Her face was soft with sympathy, and an underlying look of disgust (presumably at Flowey) was in her eyes.

“What a terrible creature.” She said gently. “Torturing such poor, innocent youths.”


	3. The Gang is Adopted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bro stop cursing mom is here

“What a terrible creature. Torturing such poor, innocent youths.”

Through the haze of it all, Lexi realized that nothing hurt anymore. If she could take a guess, she would assume that her HP was at full capacity, considering that she could breathe now. Plus, a soft green glow had been coming from the monster's hands (paws?) not even just a minute ago. Maybe that's what healing magic looked like? Still, like the rest, she backed up a bit warily, not at all trusting of this new face.

“Ah, do not be afraid, my children.” The goat spoke, her voice kind and motherly, ringing out into the room. “I am Toriel, Caretaker of the Ruins.”

“Up front, can you just say you’re not going to kill us?” Rivera asked, eyes gleaming with suspicion. “Because I don’t know if this world really is 'kill or be killed.', as stated by Flowey.”

“Rivera he tried to murder us, do you think you can trust someone who tried to kill you?” Scout scoffed.

“Hey, murdering and lying are two different things.”

Toriel let out a soft snort, before giving a chuckle. Though tensions were still high, even Nevada couldn’t help but let their guard down a bit. Toriel’s kindness really felt genuine, and made its way through out the room.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” She replied. “I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down. You are the first humans to come here in a long time.”

“Are they still alive?” Royal asked, to which Nevada promptly gave a quiet 'Hey!', kicking at Royal's leg without any actual harshness. Toriel laughed once again, as Royal let out an non-meaningful 'Ow.'

“Come! I will guide you through the catacombs. This way.” Toriel said, turning around and walking through another doorway.  
  
The gang looked at each other, trying to decide what they should do. But in the end, they all shrugged. Not like there was much of an option anyway. They clearly weren't going to be able to get back up from where they fell, it was way too steep with nothing to actually grip on. And there clearly wasn't any other rooms or passageways of some sorts. 

As they entered into the Ruins, Royal gave a whistle, looking around the room. The entire place was washed with a deep purple, bricks lining the walls with cracked, chimney-like structures on each side of the room. Just in front were two off-white, almost lilac, staircases that led up to a doorway. Interestingly, there were windows on either side of the door, along with vines flooding out onto the floor. The place felt old, evident by how worn down everything looked, giving it a mystic feeling. It was like stepping into a History nobody had ever seen before.

Royal put her hands on her hips, grinning. “Oh man, I’m digging this purple color.”   
  
They slowly followed Toriel one by one up the stairs once having their fair share of awing. Nevada paused at a pile of red leaves before climbing up the stairs, crunching down one some of them and then hastily following the others. 

Lexi stopped for a moment as she watched. Did... nobody see it? Surely they would have questioned it if they did, so... Floating atop the pile of leaves was a bright, glimmering object of some sort. It vaguely resembled a star. Cautiously, she walked towards it. Lexi would have preferably left it alone, had it not for the feeling this  _thing_ was pulling her closer. Beckoning her to reach out, and-

Lexi waved her hand through it. It almost didn't feel like anything, just a warm haze. She almost jumped when a menu popped into her vision.

_The shadow of the ruins looms above, filling you with determination._

A blank save slot had appeared, with the words EMPTY written at the top. The only two options were Save and Return. Lexi tested if she could leave but it seemed like she was stuck in place. Only option was to pick something, she supposed.

“Not like I haven’t already made enough bad decisions today.” Lexi grumbled, pushing her hand on the Save option.  
  
EMPTY disappeared, being overwritten with Lexi's name instead. The menu abruptly closed after it declared it had saved, giving her the ability to move again. Lexi stared at the star. It was still there. Okay.

“Hm.” She mumbled. She didn't touch it again. 

“Hey Lexi! Are you coming?” Scout called, still waiting patiently at the top of the stairs. Lexi startled out of her trance, giving a quick nod and running up the stairs before the others could start yelling at her to hurry up already.  
  
The next room had the same general aesthetic as the first, purple being overwhelmingly everywhere. The door this time however was closed, the same symbol on Toriel's robe being on it. To the right were six grey buttons, a rusted yellow switch on the wall in front of them.

“Welcome to your new home, innocent ones.” Toriel greeted, facing the group with a smile. 

Royal shuffled towards the back of the group, whispering so quietly she was barely heard, “How do we tell her we’re trying to get back up?”   
  
Nevada shrugged, staring intently ahead, "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

“Allow me to educate you in the operation of the Ruins.” Toriel continued, not having overheard them. Turning to her right, she walked over four of the grey buttons on the floor, then headed to the yellow switch on the wall and flipped it down. With that, the purple door opened to the rest of the ruins. She gestured her arm to the door. The group stared in awe. It was a lot different actually seeing a puzzle of this type be completed in real life, and not just a video game.

“The ruins are full of puzzles. Ancient fusions between diversions and doorkeys. One must solve them to move from room to room.” Toriel said. “Please adjust yourself to the sight of them.”

“Puzzles or bust.” Rivera stated loudly, causing the other six in the room to giggle. 

“Yes, indeed.” Toriel laughed.

“The puzzles here aren't going to be anything like slide puzzles, right? Those are the ones I suck at.” Nevada said as the others started to walk forward.  
  
Lexi glanced over, "These puzzles seem easy as all hell. I'm sure you'll be fine." 

“Okay, fair. But I’ve given you a warning." 

They continued to progress, leaving the room and walking into a much wider, and longer, one. Though similar in appearance, this one had two rivers flowing through, with small bridges over them. The place had considerably more vines and general overgrown nature, a noticeable thick mass of vines in the corner. Why was every room in the Ruins so pretty? The group stared in wonder. A somewhat concerning thing were the spikes at the end of the room. 

“To make progress here, you will need to trigger several switches.” Toriel explained, “Do not worry, I have labelled the ones you need to flip.”

Toriel once again started to walk through the room, the others trailing behind her. Noticing one of the labelled switches, Rivera ran over.

“I got this one!” They bounced, swiping the switch down. With a small click, the satisfied teen walked over to rejoin the group.

“I’ll take the next one.” Scout announced, walking to the second one and flipping it as well. A loud noise echoed through the room, the spikes lowering into the floor. They resisted the urge to also flip the last unlabeled one beside it, just for the satisfaction of a completed set. They walked back over proudly.

“Splendid! I am proud of you, little ones.” Toriel smiled brightly, looking content. “Let us move to the next room.”  
  
Trailing behind again, the group moved into the next room. Though not without the painful notice of the spike holes through the ground, the risk that they could just pop right back up in all of their minds, the deactivation of them not easing any worries. Most of them walked over where they had been, not daring to touch the metal plating.

“The moment I walk on this the spikes are gonna shoot back up.” Breanne predicted, being the last one to cross.

“Will you be okay?” Rivera asked.

“Yeah.” She replied, causing them to giggle. Thankfully no such thing happened, everyone finally being in the small room.

Nevada observed the room, trying not to only focus on the weird, stitched dummy that was in it. It looked like it was gazing into their soul. “There’s not another switch here…" They commented, "So I’m guessing they’ll stay down unless someone else messes with the switches.”

Rivera nodded at their conclusion, then grinned, “Are you going to test that?" They asked.

“No.”

Joining up with the others, the seven stood in front of a cotton dummy. Some parts were ripped, stuffing spilling out. Their eyes wandered towards Toriel, curious about what in the world the point of the creepy being was.

“As a human living in the underground, monsters may attack you.” Toriel informed.

“No shit!” Lexi screamed, not being able to stop herself. Nevada flinched. Though Toriel tossed her a disapproving glare, the others scolded Lexi for her, leaving Toriel to continue the explanation. She cleared her throat. 

“You will need to be prepared for this situation. However, worry not! The process is simple.”

Gesturing to the dummy monster, she continued to speak. “When you encounter a monster, you will enter a fight. While you are in a fight, strike up a friendly conversation. Stall for time. I will come resolve the conflict.”

“Okay. She did do that.” Breanne reminded Lexi, who crossed her arms and huffed, not willing to argue.

“Practice talking to the dummy.” Toriel suggested, walking towards it and standing in anticipation. With a shrug, the seven walked towards the dummy. Lexi marched to it, entering a battle. She felt that she would never get used to the feeling of her soul tugging out of her body as when dragged into a fight.

_[You encountered the dummy.]_

A helpful voice said (Lexi briefly wondered who the hell that was. It had been following her since the first room.) Hm. Well, this certainly looked a lot different than when Flowey did it.

There were a lot more options this time, considering last time didn't have any. 4 different buttons were shown, being FIGHT, ACT, ITEM, and MERCY. Under the white boxes telling her what choices she had were also Lexi’s stats. Full HP, good. Lexi wasn't really sure what she was expecting about that. Putting aside discomfort, Lexi sighed.

“Okay so we talk, right?” Taking a guess at what to do, she pressed down on the ACT button, seeing DUMMY as the option. Pressing again, she saw two more options. Check and Talk. Doing enough of her own exploring today, she just decided to forgo the Check option and simply talk to the dummy.

“Move. I’m trying to get out of the Ruins.” She said straightforwardly. The white box lit up with text once again, the soft voice reading.

_[It doesn’t seem much for conversation._

_Toriel seems happy with you.]_

Suddenly, Lexi was brought back, the void world disappearing and fading back into the room. Lexi shuddered, stepping back from the Dummy.  
  
Scout stepped up, “Hey wait, before we stop, could I try something?” They asked. Before anyone could reply, they initiated battle. Light blue soul shining, and hovered over the MERCY option.

“I know you want us to strike up a conversation, but me and Breanne are the adults. I think we should be able to defuse situations before they have to happen. I think learning about the spare option here would be great.”

“You are... Adults?” Toriel questioned, confusion evident in her face. Breanne shrugged.

“Legal enough to drink,” She replied. It wasn't like Toriel was wrong to assume though, considering the wide range of heights everyone there had. It was a little hard to tell what anyone's age was.

Scout hummed in confirmation, pressing on MERCY. The only two options were spare and flee. 

“These are both good to know…” They whispered. They pressed on spare, and looked up. The dummy was silent, and nothing happened, as expected. But feeling the intrinsic rush of pressing the button, and maybe just for fun, they continued to do so. Over, and over, and over...

After god knows how many times of spamming, the Dummy up and floated away.

_[The Dummy tires of your aimless shenanigans._

_YOU WON! You earned 0 XP and 0 gold.]_

The room was suddenly back, and souls back in the respective persons’ body. But everyone stared up at the ceiling where the Dummy had left in shock.

“Oh…” Scout whispered.

It was still for a few more moments, before the silence was broken.

“...What the fuck?!” Lexi screamed, causing the others to once again reprimand her not for swearing, but for swearing in front of Toriel. The aforementioned person was quiet, however, looking on in a confused face before perking up.

“Ah, well, very good! You are very good.” She told them, walking into the next room.

Everyone stopped arguing, and left the room once again, ready to face more puzzles and other tomfoolery they would encounter.


	4. The Gang's Mom Goes For a Beer and Doesn't Come Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She's been gone for 18 years.
> 
> (I'm so sorry that there was no chapter last Friday! Things should be kept on track now.)

“There is another puzzle in this room...” Toriel told the group, as they entered into the empty room. This one also had plenty of vines on the wall, piling up in thick layers. “I wonder if you can solve it?”

“Yeah.” Lexi replied, looking across the patterned floor. Part of it was lighter, making a weird squiggle pattern. Well, this was a bit different. This hadn’t been on the other floors of the different rooms. But who knows, monster culture could vary, and this might have been nothing. She disregarded it, and continued to traverse with the others.

As they reached the end of the hall, Lexi felt a sudden tug at her soul, making her turn around.

 _Froggit attacks you!_  
  
"Dude.” Lexi hissed. “Toriel is right there. Wow.”

Taking a deep breath, she decided to do what Toriel suggested on earlier. Strike up some type of conversation.

Pressing the ACT button, she figured a few different options. There was still the check button, but then there was threaten and compliment. It was very tempting for her to threaten the monster out of the way, but as she pointed out herself, Toriel was _right there._ Using what little self control she had left, she decided to try and compliment the frog.

“How do you live like that,” Lexi asked. “being a cute frog all the time? How do you cope?”

In response, the text box and that soft voice narrated,

_Froggit didn't understand what you said, but it was flattered anyway._

Before anything more could happen, Toriel came into view. She stared down the monster with a cold glare, and the Froggit looked to the side guiltily, slowly shuffling away. Lexi almost had to laugh at that, because _god_ was that relatable.

_YOU WON! You earned 0 XP and 0 Gold_

As the battle disappeared, Breanne pulled Lexi to the side, bringing her closer to the group and Toriel, who waited at the end of the hall.

“Sorry I didn’t catch that. You alright?” Breanne asked.

“Yeah. And don’t worry if I get into these little scuffles. I can handle them, no need to baby me. If there’s a problem, I’ll tell you.” Lexi replied, pushing at Breanne a little bit. She gave a chuckle.

“Alright, I’ll let you take care of them if you can.

Turning back their attention towards Toriel, she smiled towards the group, though she didn’t seem to look directly at them.

“This is the puzzle, but...” She trailed off. Geneva took a glance behind Toriel, and her eyes widened at the room behind her. It was a long room, chock full of spikes jutting out from the floor. Water was under the surface, appearing in the few places the spikes weren’t.

“Oof. Yikes.” She replied. Toriel sighed, and nodded her head.

“Here, take my hand for a moment.” She told them. Lexi shrugged, and took Toriel’s hand. She herself reached back to take the hand of whoever was closest, which was Geneva. It trailed down until everyone was in a line, holding hands.

They all trailed behind, as they carefully walked along the spiked path. Though anxiety crept up on them, Toriel’s confidence in it had them follow along, and made them realize that if they followed exactly how Toriel was following, the spikes would go down. Lexi realized, in that moment of following, that this was the same path that the patterned floor followed. She tucked that away in her mind for later, thinking that maybe a similar puzzle would have something like that.

Once everyone was safely off the spiked bridge, everyone let go. Toriel sighed, looking at everyone. It was safe once more.

“Puzzles seem a little to dangerous for now.” Toriel said.

“I don’t like that there’s a spiked bridge. Does it get worse up ahead? Do we have a bigger spiked bridge? Or just, something worse?” Nevada asked.

“Well, it’s not like Toriel isn’t gonna help us. I think we’ll be fine.” Geneva answered, following behind as Toriel, along with the group, went into the next room. Shrugging, Nevada trailed behind.

Entering the next room, the group could see that it was just a very long hallway. Still the same exterior as all the others before, but this time completely barren, save from the foliage and conspicuously, one pillar at the very end of the hallway. Another path was in the floor of this room. With nothing else, it seemed like the only thing being left to do was walk forwards.

“You have done excellently thus far, my children.” Toriel stated, even getting a slight nodded towards Breanne and Scout. The two smiled.

“However… I have a difficult request to ask of you.”

“Are you making me do a slide puzzle?” Nevada asked jokingly, clenching their stick.

“Are we gonna have to battle royale our way through the room?” Geneva also questioned.

Toriel snorted before suddenly laughing. She gripped her chest, and shook her head.

“Oh no, it’s nothing like that….” She said, though suddenly growing quiet, speaking up again after a moment. “I would like you to walk to the end of this room by yourself. Forgive me for this.”

As she quickly ran to the other side of the room by herself, the others started to laugh when Lexi yelled behind her.

“What, you’re making me do EXERCISE?! I can’t believe this.” Though almost sounding angry, a smirk told otherwise, and her tone was playful. The group started to walk down the hallway, chatting to themselves doing so.

“I’m gonna be honest with you, who puts a long desolate hallway right after a spiked bridge?” Rivera asked.

“If a spiked bridge can’t stop someone, what will?” Geneva replied.

“Yeah but you could at least put more spikes and try a _little_ harder.”

“Rivera do you _really_ want more spikes in this room right now?” Royal questioned, and the other teen shrugged.

“Okay, yeah, point taken. But I dunno, why bother putting spikes at all then?”

“Aesthetics.” Royal pointed out.

“You know what? I respect that.”

Lexi growled, turning her attention to the group.

“Okay what the fuck? This hallway is actually way longer than it needs to be. Why the hell is it this long? Who thought this was okay? This is so unnecessary!”

“Shh…” Scout pulled out a jolly rancher from their pocket, and handed it to Lexi. She almost considered throwing it out of her hand, but instead just huffed and snatched it from them, popping it into her mouth.  
  
Breanne spoke up. “Okay, not gonna lie, this is long. Like there was a comparison I was gonna make, but it’s inappropriate. So I won’t.”

“Too late, we know what it is.” Geneva stated.

“Darn.” Breanne replied dully, making the others laugh.

Finally reaching the end of the hallway, the group watched as Toriel abruptly came out from behind the white pillar, looking at them proudly.

“Greetings, my children.” She stated. “Do not worry, I did not leave you. I was merely behind this pillar the whole time.”

“Oh wow, what a shock!” Geneva said, causing everyone to laugh. Calming down, Toriel continued.

“Thank you for trusting me. However, there was an important reason for this exercise....” She explained. “To test your independence. I must attend some business, and you must stay alone for a little while.”

“Terrible.” Rivera said, not being able to stop themselves. “We will miss you dearly.”

“Rivera, she’s probably gonna be gone for five minutes.” Scout whispered.

“That’s five minutes too many!”

Toriel laughed again, not tiring of the teens antics. She put her hand on her chest, having to settle down once more.

“Please remain here. It’s dangerous to explore by yourself.” she said. Though after looking at the teens, she seemed to have had a thought.

“I have an idea. I will give you a cellphone. If you have a need for anything, just call.”

“Oh, cool! Reception has been shi- horrible since we got here.” Lexi stated, actually looking almost surprised. Walking over, Toriel handed her the device before stepping back.

“Be good, alright?” She said, before turning back and walking away. Once Lexi was sure she was out of earshot, she took a good look at the phone.

“What the hell, this is old as shit.” Lexi looked at the phone. It wasn’t even a flip-phone, and it didn’t even have anything to text with. It was more like one of those house phones, but significantly smaller. “Feels like a brick, and works like a brick except it lets you communicate to someone halfway across the block.”

“Lexi that’s mean.” Rivera giggled, looking at it themselves. “This isn’t called the ruins for nothing. Besides, I don’t think living underground brings the most modern of changes.”

“Okay. Fair. I get it. But god this thing is fucking ancient.”

Putting the phone in her back pocket, Lexi was about to move forward, until Scout grabbed her by the back of her shirt.

“Hey, Toriel said we need to stay here!” They reminded, but Lexi crossed her arms.

“How long is she going to be gone, though?” Lexi asked.

“Y'all told me five minutes, so I’m holding you accountable.” Rivera replied. So the rest shrugged, deciding to wait it out.

Presumably five minutes later- it was hard to tell without a clock- and there was nothing.

“Hold up, lemme call Toriel.” Lexi grumbled, looking through the contacts and pressing the call button. After two rings, she picked up.

“Hello, this is Toriel.”

“Hey, when are you coming back?.” She asked, straightforward as ever.

“It shouldn’t be too much soon, my child! I’ll be back when I can.”

“Hey, tell Toriel I said ‘hi’!” Rivera called.

“Rivera says hi.”

“Oh, they want to say hello again? Tell them I said ‘salutations!’”

“Okay. Rivera, she said salutations.” She replied, before turning back to the phone.

“Is that enough?” Toriel asked. Lexi shrugged.

“Yeah, see you soon.”

Shutting off the phone, Lexi sat down, and grumbled impatiently. Shrugging, Rivera sat down next to her, taking out their own cell phone.

“Hey, I know we have no reception… But I have Peggle-”

“Why the fuck do you have Peggle?” Lexi demanded.

“Eh, childhood nostalgia. Wanna play to pass the time?”

“...Fine.”

Some time later, while the rest were still talking and goofing around with each other, the phone rang in Lexi’s pocket. Quickly fishing it out, Lexi answered the phone.

“Yo.”

“Hello… This is Toriel. My errands are taking longer than I thought they would. You must wait five more minutes. Thank you for being patient.”

As the phone clicked off, Lexi groaned, kicking her legs in the air.

“This is bullshit! Can we just leave, please?”  
  
“Dude, she said five more minutes.” Royal chuckled, looking towards her.

“I don’t care, I don’t want to play Peggle with Rivera anymore.”

“Ouch, okay.” Rivera replied.

Though Lexi was impatient, she crossed her arms with a grumble, and didn’t say anything more. And simply waited there with the rest for the specified time.

The phone rang again, and Lexi picked it up.

“Hello.”

“Hello. This is Toriel. I found what I was looking for.  But before I could take it...A small, white puppy snatched it away. How odd. Do dogs even LIKE flour? Err, that is an unrelated question, of course.”

Resisting the urge to scream, Lexi bit her tongue.

“Huh.”

“It will take a little longer, please understand.”

“I WILL NOT.” Lexi screamed, but the other phone line had already clicked off. Scout ran over and restrained her, before she could go off and escape herself. Nevada snatched the phone in her stead.

Scout winced as Lexi flailed, “Calm down Lexi, and play more Peggle-”

“FUCK OFF.”

After a few minutes, Lexi had finally calmed down enough to not have to be restrained, though she pouted heavily. It was at that time the phone rang, and Nevada picked it up.

“Um, hi, It’s Nevada.”

Nevada didn’t hear much, except heavy panting on the other side. They pulled the phone away for a moment, grimacing at the sound, and putting it back against their ear. They heard barking. Then a distant voice that sounded like Toriel.

“Stop, please! Come back here with my cell phone!” The phone then clicked off, with Nevada turning to the group.

“So… That dog thing wasn’t a lie.”

“Nevada if another word so much comes out of your mouth I will rip your spine out through your ass.” Lexi growled.  
  
Nevada paused, staring at Lexi. They looked like they might actually burst into tears right there, face suddenly looking shaky. They don’t, instead turning around quickly and staring at the phone in their hand intently. It seemed like they weren’t really focused on the phone and were just trying to hide their face, repeatedly bring a hand up to it and scrubbing.

“Wow, that’s really brutal! Stop it.” Scout scolded, which only made Lexi growl at them too.

A few more minutes passed, and the phone rang again. Nevada didn’t answer until a few rings had gone, completely turned away from the group now and standing in a corner a little aways.

“Um, Toriel, It’s Nevada. I-”

There was snoring. If they could guess, the dog had fallen asleep on Toriel’s phone. Her distant voice was heard once more.

“Hellooo? Little puppy…? Where are you…? I will give you a nice pat on the head!”

The snoring stopped.

“...If you return my cell phone.”

The snoring resumes.

With another click, Nevada looked back at the phone. “...That’s bullshit!” They whispered under their breath.

Lexi resumed her struggle to leave, with Scout holding her back. After another few minutes, another call came. No hope sparked in the group this time, everyone expecting it to just be the same situation again.

“Tori-” Nevada started, then stopped.

There was some snoring, with a small puppy sneeze interrupting it.

“Here, pup-pup-puppy!” Toriel’s voice called. “Oh dear, I should not keep my guests waiting any longer…. Oh no, how long has it been since I’ve talked to them…? Perhaps they have been calling the phone, and… Here puppy!”

Nevada didn’t even try anymore, and the rest just waited once again for a few more minutes. Upon answering the phone, there was just more snoring.

This time, Toriel’s voice sounded tired. “Doggie, here doggie… Oh dear… I do wonder how they are.”

With a click, Nevada threw up their hands. “Fuck it, we’re leaving.” They stated, already making a move to walk out of the room, not pausing to hear what the others thought.

  
Even Scout, patient as they were, inclined to agree. At least they could keep an eye on the team. Letting go, Lexi booked it from the floor out of the hallway, with the rest trailing behind. A foreboding sense of dread was in them, wondering what would await them in the Ruins.


	5. The Gang Can't Stay On Track

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dude just keep going no wait-

The group walked into a small, but long, room. The immediate things they noticed were the abundant piles of red leaves scattered in the room, two entryways to their left and right, and, bizarrely, a Froggit was sitting in front of the left entryway. They seemed to be passive, sitting idly and not sparing any of them a glance or even making a move to attack. They simply stared off into the distance, a look of mystery in their eyes. It was almost dramatic.   
  
Nevada jolted as the phone rang twice as soon as they stepped out, and surprised themselves by even bothering to pick it up this time. It was likely just the dog, but, could never be too careful. It'd be rude to not pick up if it was Toriel. 

“Hello, hello? This is Toriel.” She sounded a little frantic, and Nevada sighed with relief.

“Hey Toriel, it’s Nevada.”

“My apologies, a strange dog kidnapped my phone.” She sighed. “So if you called, I could not have helped you.”  
  
Biting their lip, Nevada resisted the urge to tell her that yes, they already knew. They also squashed down the urge to ask her how in the  _world_ do you lose your phone to a dog, and not be able to get it back for so long? They messed around with their stick in their other hand, occasionally pushing it harshly against the ground and scraping it across.

“How unfortunate.” They replied instead of literally anything they wanted to say.

“However, I have recovered it. And you’re still in that room, are you not?”

“I-” Nevada was cut off with Toriel’s kindly voice.

“What good children you are. There are a few puzzles ahead that I have yet to explain. It would be dangerous to try and solve them yourselves. Be good, alright?”

How ironic that she'd call about how good they are, staying in that room, right as they left it. Nevada wonders if she's psychic. They also wonder if she'll be mad with them for leaving. With a grim type of smile, Nevada looked down at the phone, both in a feeling of being pissed but not having it in them to actually be mad at Toriel. Exhaling in frustration they passed the phone to Breanne, not wanting to talk to anyone longer then they had to for the time being.

“I... Need to take five.” They told her.

“Yeah. Let’s just get outta here.”

Looking to the left, Breanne and Nevada watched with some relative surprise as Lexi was bent down across from a Froggit, seemingly nodding along in understanding.

To be honest, Lexi was just as confused as to why she could understand.

Lexi definitely didn’t speak the language, she didn’t study it. How could you learn a monster language when they've been banished for years? All she heard was ribbit sounds that come out of any other frog ever. But that small voice in her head translated for her, to which she just nodded along. She decided this would be a problem that they would figure out later, when they had the emotional capacity to actually care. Like with everything else. The group is very good at ignoring things they don't want to deal with.

“Excuse me, human.” They said. “I have some advice for you about battling monsters. If you ACT a certain way or FIGHT until you almost defeat them... They might not want to battle you anymore. If a monster does not want to fight you, please... Use some MERCY, human.”

“Shit.” Lexi replied. “I’ll do that, funky little frog guy.”

“Cheers to that.” Rivera replied, having no idea what the monster had just told them, or if it was even directed towards the group at all. 

Geneva’s eye went towards the room behind the Froggit. Curious enough, she went over and walked towards the opening, interested in what she might find-

Before her own soul was brought out into battle.

“Oh, wow, don’t like that.” Geneva commented, seeing her own orange soul brought out into the battle box.

_Froggit hopped close!_

Checking over her 4 options, she decided to completely ignore the FIGHT option, since everyone seemed to be doing that. Despite talking such big game to each other, the actually preferred to handle things peacefully. That was a realization Geneva chuckled to herself about.

Hand hovering over the ACT button, she pressed down, looking over her options. Well, if Lexi found it in herself to compliment these guys, she might as well too.

“I hope you know, that frogs are my favorite things. And you, have just made my day.”

Geneva could see the Froggit’s eyes darting away, and what almost looked like a blush forming on their face.

“Ribbit.” They replied.

_Froggit didn't understand what you said, but they were flattered anyway._

The text box read what Geneva had guessed. The Froggit probably would have been speaking in English if they understood, right? 

In the battle box, a couple of flies moved towards Geneva in a janky fashion, abruptly flying to her after a pause. She moved her soul away, making uncomfortable noises as she did so, not liking how any of this felt. It was unnatural and honestly a bit freaky. She sighed when they disappeared, and stopped moving closer. Since she had the option to pick through her choices again, Geneva watched how Froggit seemed to stay averted, almost like they didn’t want to fight her anymore.

Not feeling for another ACT, she looked toward the MERCY option, then pressed down, finding the spare (and flee) options. Right, they watched Scout spare that monster out of the room. But this was different, right?

“I’m gonna guess this is what I have to do.” She whispered, pressing down. Froggit then disappeared, running away, with text reading across the box again.

_YOU WON!_

_You earned 0 XP and 2 gold._

“Oh sweet.” Geneva whistled, picking up the two coins left behind.  
  
Royal looked over her shoulder, giving a wide grin. “Oh shit, we’re rich boys.” She whispered.  
  
Geneva put the coins in her pocket, and pointed towards the open hallway in front of her that she was going to walk through before being interrupted.

“Let’s go in there.” She said. Royal raised an eyebrow at her.

“Bro, we’re already pushing it with leaving the room- hey I didn’t say we’re going!” She yelled, as Geneva simply ignored her and pushed her away inside. Giving a sigh, she pinched the bridge of her nose. 

“Hey guys, Geneva decided we should go in here. So that’s happening now.” Royal called out to the rest.

“Oh, cool.” Rivera replied, heading in second, which prompted Royal to look at them funny.

“Oh, no questions, no opposition- okay. Fine. Cool.”

As the rest headed inside, they found the room to be somewhat small. Two rivers lined the left and right sides of the floor, giving a nice background noise. A mass of vines were on the back wall, with a tall white pillar in front, surrounded by a circle of leaves. But the thing that caught their attention the most was the bowl filled with wrapped candy standing proudly on top of the pillar, almost begging to be taken.

Geneva walked up, reading a small sign on the pillar. “The sign says take one.” She told them, with Rivera being the first one to run up to the bowl.

“Sweet, mine now.” They replied, taking a piece, seeming to not care at all the possibility of it being poisonous or some sort of trap. It seemed like nobody cared actually when it came to the prospect of candy, everyone except Geneva and Scout taking one, which caused Lexi to raise an eyebrow at them.

“You don’t think they’re gluten free?” Lexi asked.

“Nah.” The two replied. Lexi shrugged, as the rest made it out of the room and back on track.

But as Lexi put the candy in her pocket, the menu screen lit up a little in her vision. Strange, she was able to ignore it until now. As she pressed the button and opened it up, she pressed on items, since she hadn’t checked on that one yet.

Her eyes widened as the word "MnstrCndy" appeared in the box. She promptly made things worse by pressing on the info button, ruining her quest in ignoring every possible thing and hoping this was a fever dream. That soft voice in her head read out,

_Has a distinct, non-licorice flavor._

“...I hate this.” Lexi grumbled to herself,  closing out the menu and trekking forward. She was almost tempted to ignore the sparkling star in the red leaves, but instead she went in. Her mood did perk up a little, hearing the leaves below her get crushed as she pressed on the star.

_Playfully crinkling through the leaves fills you with determination._

“Oi!” Rivera called. “We’re waiting on you!”

“Yeah, yeah. Give me a minute.” Lexi called back, kicking the leaves away from herself and continuing to the next room with the rest. But just before the could actually leave the room, Lexi felt a tug at her soul, being called out into an encounter.

“Oh for fuck’s sake.” She whispered to herself, looking over the monster. Well shit, this thing looked like it was going to have a panic attack at any moment.

Pressing down on the ACT button, she figured the best thing to do would be to console the monster. So she opened her mouth to speak.

“He-”

But then the thing flew off.

That soft voice read the text box.

_Halfway through your first word, Whimsun bursts into tears and runs away._

_YOU WON! Earned 0 XP and 0 Gold._

Lexi stood there, with her mouth agape at the sight.

“...Shit. Feels bad man.” She sighed, continuing to walk. “Let’s just... Get going.”

With a nod, the rest agreed, continuing to walk further into the Ruins.

Walking in, they saw what seemed to be some graph-esque markings on the floor, as well as two very large holes in the wall, big enough for anyone to comfortably get in and out of. Weird. Rivera began to walk a bit in front of Lexi, trying to talk to her, when they stepped onto the marked floor. Suddenly they fell through as the floor opened up beneath them.

“Fuck!” Rivera screamed. Hearing a dull thud, the rest looked through the floor, worried faces etched on to them.

“Rivera! Are you okay?!” Breanne asked.

“Ughhh, my ass hurts. But I’m fine.”

Looking down, Rivera saw that they had fallen onto a pile of leaves. Huh, not golden flowers this time. But it was alright, it’s not like they had tripped too far down. Looking to their right, they observed that there was a large doorway, which they guessed would lead back up to those vent like openings. Seeing no other way back up, they decided to go through it. With a small set of stairs inside, they climbed up and through the other vent, landing on the other side.

“Well hey, look at that. You got yourself outta that one.” Breanne commented, giving a thumbs up. Backing up a little bit, she ran a bit forwards before jumping over the marked floor.

“Aw, you didn’t do the puzzle.” Rivera replied, watching as everyone else jumped over the floor.

“Yeah because we’re not dumbasses.” Lexi replied, causing Rivera to mockingly grab at their chest, hurt.

“I am wounded.” They replied.

The group continued forwards, after fending off from another Froggit. Walking into the next room, Breanne felt the phone ring in her pocket. She picked it up. What would Toriel want now? Or did another dog steal her phone?

“Hello? This is Toriel.” 

“Yo. It's Breanne, took over for Nevada.” She replied.

“For no reason in particular..." Toriel hummed, her voice having an odd tone to it, "Which do you children prefer? Cinnamon or Butterscotch?”

“Cinnamon. But let me ask the rest.” 

Turning to the rest, Breanne raised her voice to be heard, “Hey! Toriel’s asking if you guys prefer cinnamon or butterscotch?”

“Butterscotch!” Nevada immediately replied, along with Rivera. 

“Cinnamon.” Lexi, Royal, and Geneva objected. Nevada and Rivera stared at them in a jokingly judgy fashion. 

“Jeez that’s hard, uh, whatever everyone else is going with.” Scout ended. 

“Okay." Breanne returned to the phone, "Nevada and Rivera want butterscotch, Royal and Lexi want cinnamon, and Scout’s fine with whatever.”

“Oh, I see. Thank you very much!”

There was a click, and Toriel was off the phone again. With a sigh, Breanne put the phone back. They moved on, deciding to continue on with the next puzzle, if any. Hopefully this would be the last of it but it didn't seem likely. Well. At least they were all pretty easy.


	6. The Gang Solves Puzzles For Babies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dumbasses. Dumbasses all of you.

Stepping into the next room, there was ominously, just a single rock. Except it was one of the ones that was bigger, the type you'd usually find bugs under, going up a bit past ankle height. In front of it was a button that looked more like a metal plate sitting on the floor, and in front of that were a row of spikes, going across the width of the room. The solution seemed obvious.  
  
Breanne almost felt shocked, seeing the phone immediately buzz again after taking just a few steps forwards. But she shrugged it off, answering it once again.

“Hello? This is Toriel.”

“‘Sup? You forget something?” She questioned.

“You all do not dislike the taste of butterscotch or cinnamon, do you? I know what your preferences are, but…” Toriel sounded sheepish, “would you turn up your nose if you found it on your plate?”

“Nah, I mean. We’re all pretty hungry people. Though you might want to worry about glutinous stuff if it concerns Scout or Geneva. They can’t really eat that. But otherwise, no.”

“Right, right, I understand. Thank you for being patient, by the way.”

There was another click, and Toriel was off the phone. Breanne gave a smile, putting the phone away. Well, she had somewhat of a guess now as to what the big surprise was. Everyone was going to be pretty excited.

“Can we like, step over these spikes?” Royal asked, preparing to jump for it. Nevada grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled her back.

“No, we’re not walking back with bloody feet.” They replied. The spikes were definitely far too wide, and tall, to simply just try and jump over. Unless the group suddenly gained amazing acrobatic skills they wouldn't be able to do that without someone getting hurt. Once ensuring the safety of Royal, Nevada looked over to where Geneva was examining some writing on the wall.

“Three out of four grey rocks recommend you push them.” Geneva read. “...I’m tempted to say Toriel wrote that.”

She looked back to where Lexi and Scout were examining said grey rock, simply sitting there stationary, as rocks do.

“Pretty sure you just push it onto the button.” Scout remarked. Before they could move it themselves, Lexi harshly kicked it on to the button. The room shook violently for a moment as the spikes went down, leaving them a safe entrance. Some small mutters akin to "what the fuck was that" came after the room stopped shaking.

Lexi raised her eyebrows, then squinted in a thinking, almost annoyed look, “So these were the puzzles that needed to be explained, huh. We all collectively share one brain cell, but like…”

“Dunno man, we don’t know what's up ahead yet.” Rivera replied, to which Lexi waved her hand at them.

“Can’t be worse than this.”

After another encounter with a Whimsum, they continued onward. Until another call from Toriel interrupted them. Breanne answered again, still just as relaxed as ever and not at all irritated from the continuous interrupting calls.

“Hello? There are not any other allergies among the group, is there?” Toriel asked.

“No, why do you ask?” Breanne teased.

“Huh?” Toriel sounded like she was shuffling something around, “Why am I asking? No reason… No reason at all.”

The phone clicked once again, and Breanne’s grin grew wider. Breanne had a few guesses as to what Toriel could be making, but mostly, she was just excited for something tasty to get to, once this whole thing was said and done.

Entering the next room, the group walked for a little bit, passing one of those big vents too, before coming across a completely patched floor. All of which possibly threatening to drop them.

“Oh, fuck me.” Rivera said out loud, causing the group to laugh.

“Hey, you did this before, why don’t you do it again?” Lexi persuaded, almost pushing them towards the floor.

“No, no, no! I don’t want to, no!” They screamed.

“Hold up, let me check.” Royal walked forward, pushing the others away. On a random tile, she put slight pressure on it with her foot, enough to break the floor without falling too far in. Once it was broken and she could estimate the height, she leaped down, landing on her feet instead of her back like Rivera had. Looking at the pattern on the floor, Royal looked for a good while before taking a guess at what they had to do.

“Okay, I think I got this.” She stated. Looking behind her, there was a doorway that presumably led back up. She walked in and took the stairway, climbing out of another vent-like opening.  
  
Before being greeted herself by a new monster, her dark blue soul tugged away. The text box read,

_Moldsmal blocks the way!_

“Wow. I don’t like that feeling.” Royal whispered to herself. “But I’ve seen the others do this, I think I know what to do.”

Pressing down on the ACT button, she went ahead and checked her options. Since everyone had decided to forgo the check button, she decided to do the same, being left with imitate or flirt.

Royal had to laugh to herself. It sounded so stupid, and yet it sounded like something she wanted to do. Hell, _would_ do.

Knowing no direct way to communicate with the creature, she decided to try and shake her hips a little, to maybe looking more appealing to the monster. The monster seemed to imitate the wiggle back, trying to do the same gesture as Royal.

_You wiggle your hips. Moldsmal wiggles back. What a meaningful conversation!_

Ah, so sarcastic.

The attack box changed, as little white dots dripped down from the top before bursting into tinier pieces. Royal surprised herself, being careful enough to avoid it and not get hit. Everyone must be on edge about not being hit since the whole Flowey incident, she assumed.

As the options came back, and the smell of lime gelatin wafted through the air, Royal decided it was time to spare the monster. With a simple press of MERCY and spare, the fight was over.

_YOU WON!_

Earned 0 XP and 1 gold.  
  
“I’m rich, I’m rich, I’m rich!” Royal whispered to herself, picking up the one coin to have come from the monster. She then ran back to the group, who were still waiting for her.

“Alright, I know where we’re going guys.” Royal stated, taking another step onto a platform.

And falling right through, looking like a total dumbass.

“Royal, I trusted you.” Lexi feigned sadness, hopping through the floor where Royal had first gone through, and found her friend curled up on herself, not seemingly in physical pain, but definitely a mental one.

“Dude I _had_ it.” Royal whined from the floor.

Lexi took a look around the room, and looked down at the pattern. After taking a second to think about it, the gears in her mind began to turn.

“Oh my god, you were supposed to copy the pattern of the floor without the leaves, Royal.”

“I was?”

“Wow. I can see where the one brain cell didn't go.”

With a fake cry from Royal, the two carried themselves back upstairs and through the vent. With some help from Lexi and a bit of trial and error, the group finally made it across. Thankfully, all were still kept intact.  
  
The room looked fairly similar to the one before the floor puzzle, except this time having two more rocks added to the bunch, and the spikes were on a bridge over a stream of water. Even if they could have gotten over the spikes in the last room, they for sure wouldn’t be able to in here.

“There. I’ll let you solve the next puzzle if it makes you feel any better.” Lexi stated, moving aside to let Royal through, to which she didn’t accept the offer.

“Nah, I’ve had enough thinking for one day. Let Geneva do it, she hasn’t done anything since she got here.”

“Hey! I battled a Froggit and found some candy.” Geneva replied.

“Yeah, we’ve all been having battles. Just move the rocks Geneva it’s not that hard.”

With a scoff, she went ahead and followed the advice. After having to fight two pairs of Froggit's, she went ahead and pushed the first and second rock. To which it did nothing, unsurprisingly. But when she got to the third rock, she almost jumped back in fear when it started talking.

“WHOA there pardner! Who said you could push me around?” The rock yelled, despite not having any mouth in sight. Much less a face.

“I’m sorry.” Geneva said on instinct. Lexi stepped in, being the only one with enough anger and straightforwardness to ask exactly for what she needed.

“I need you to move.” Lexi stated.

“HMM? You’re asking me to move over?” It asked. “Okay, just for you, pumpkin.”

Resisting the urge to vomit at the nickname, Lexi watched as the rock moved itself an inch forward. Then promptly stopped.

“Keep going.” Lexi demanded.

“HMM? You want me to move some more? Alrighty, how’s this?”

The rock moved upwards towards them, which made Lexi want to call the rock out for it’s bullshit. However, it probably wasn’t very smart. Maybe because it was a rock, she presumed. So she took a deep breath, pinched the bridge of her nose, and breathed out.

“Not that way.”

“HMM? That was the wrong direction? Okay, think I got it.”

Finally, in a moment of brilliance, the rock moved right over onto the set of spikes, which went down. Royal was the first to try and walk over it, but Nevada watched how suddenly the spikes went right back up, which prompted them to tug back at Royal’s sweater again.

“Bro, the spikes are– oh.” Just as Royal was about to question Nevada, she realized that the hazard that was once gone had come back.

Lexi should’ve known it was too good to be true. She turned her head back to the rock, “No. Stay on the button.”  
  
“HMM? You wanted me to stay there? You’re giving me a real workout.” Finally, the rock went on to the button and stayed there. The group finally making it across.

“Wow, I’m surprised you didn’t ceremoniously dump the rock on the button yourself.” Rivera commented.

“Listen, Geneva already did the displeasure of having to move it, I decided that trying to get angry at a probably quarter-of-a-brain rock just wasn’t worth it.”

“I’m sorry.” Said girl replied, to which Lexi waved her hand.

“Nah, it’s fine. You couldn’t have predicted a rock coming to talk to you.”

“I guess that was the 4th rock…” Geneva whispered to herself.

Battling their way through two more Moldsmal’s, the group reached a small room. Inside, there was a mouse hole and a piece of cheese waiting on a small table. Lexi had noted to herself, however, that there was also another save point here. She took the time to secretly save while the rest busied themselves with the cheese and mouse hole.

“Dude, it’s stuck to the table…” Scout remarked about the cheese, Breanne nodded her head, looking disappointed.

Rivera crouched down at the mouse hole, giving a very, very light tap on the wall next to it, surprising themselves when the hole softly squeaked.

“Aw…” They whispered to themselves. Hearing this, Lexi gave a small smile to herself.

_Knowing that the mouse might one day leave it’s hole and get the cheese… It fills you with determination._

She saved, and when the rest of the group was done, they moved on.


	7. The Gang Gets Fucking Depressed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dude...oh my God....

Entering the next room, the group stopped suddenly as Breanne, now in the front, stopped them. In their way on a pile of leaves was a ghost that was… supposedly sleeping.

“Just step over it.” Lexi demanded, to which Scout elbowed her.

“No, that’s rude!”

Breanne bent down slightly, taking a closer look at the corporeal in their way. Their eyes were closed, and they seemed to be snoring. Albeit in a completely fake way.

“Zzzzzzzzz…” They said aloud, while also whispering ‘are they gone yet?’

So with a sigh, Breanne lightly brought her hand up to bring them ‘awake’, and ask them to move out of the way. But she surprised herself, when her soul was forced out into an encounter instead.

_Here comes Napstablook._

Breanne was gonna cry, they looked like the saddest thing she’s seen all day. And she’s seen some pretty sad shit, like Royal’s failure earlier. She pressed down on the ACT button, looking at her options. She completely ruled out threat, since she’s not one to do that to someone who looked like… This. Though curious, she decided to press the check button. To see if that could help her.

_NAPSTABLOOK ??? ATK - ??? DEF_

_Oh my god. This is so fucking sad._

Napstablook said nothing, as their tears fell down into the battle arena. 

Breanne cursed under her breath, and she dodged to avoid them. She didn’t know if they would hurt her or not, but she wasn't taking any chances. When the battle arena disappeared and her choices showed up again, she sighed, once again pressing ACT. Looking over at the other two options she saw “flirt.” While tempting, it just… Didn’t seem right. Instead she decided to cheer on Napstablook.

“Hey, you’re doing great.” Breanne said, giving a patient smile and a thumbs up. Napstablook almost smiled back, “Heh…” They cried once again, flooding the battle arena.  
  
But Breanne was getting better at dodging, knowing where they might hit. Her options appeared again, and she decided that cheering them on seemed like the best option, since they looked a bit better after it. So she did it again, deciding to tell them a joke.

“Hey, you’re looking in better _spirits_.” She told them, to which Napstablook had the same reaction as before, though seeming a little more cheered up.

They lightly laughed, though this time they didn’t cry. Breanne almost did, however, seeing that the box only filled up with the text “REALLY NOT FEELING UP TO IT RIGHT NOW. SORRY.”

She felt that, but it still made her sad.

With her options coming back once again, she continued to cheer them on. It looked like Napstablook wanted to show her something, their face looking nervous in anticipation.

“You want to show me something, cool guy?” Breanne asked.

“Let me try…” Napstablook whispered, tears falling out of their eyes. But instead of going down, they went up. Which formed into a small, cute top hat. They told her, “I call it Dapper Blook. Do you like it…”

They looked to be eagerly awaiting her reply. So Breanne nodded, giving a smile.

“I love it. Coolest thing I’ve seen all day.” She replied.

“Oh gee…”

The battle ended, and Breanne’s surroundings came back to her. She crouched down a little, coming more into eye contact with the ghost still on the ground as they talked to her.

“I usually come to the ruins because there’s nobody around…” Napstablook whispered. “But today I met somebody nice… Oh, I’m rambling again, I’ll get out of your way.”

“Thanks buddy, I’ll see ya around.” Breanne replied, watching them disappear into thin air. Breanne turned to the others, who looked extremely sad.

“Why did they have to go…” Scout whispered, looking like they were about to cry.

“I know, but hey, we put them in a better mood right? I think we did good.” Breanne replied, to which Lexi pushed her way to the front.

“Alright, let’s go.” She whispered, trying to hide the fact that she herself was also sad. The rest nodded, and moved along, trying to drag themselves out of the pool of emotions Napstablook brought them. Such a friendly monster.

They walked forward, only to find a room with a dead end, and two spider webs, one being larger than the other. A sign was planted in front of the webs.  
  
“No.” Nevada immediately said upon entering and left the room.  
  
“Hey- wait, no, come back!” Rivera called out, trying to stifle a giggle. Nevada didn’t respond, obviously already long gone.  
  
Rivera sighed, smiling. They turned, going towards the middle of the room, and read the sign aloud to the rest. “Spider Bake Sale. All proceeds go to real spiders.” Humming, Rivera turned to the rest. “Well, let’s see what we got.”

They counted up their gold, having nine in total. They decided to go with a spider donut, having enough for that while still having two coins left over.  
  
Scout walked over to the web, being the least creeped out by the creatures. After leaving seven gold in the web, some spiders crawled down and handed them a donut. Scout nodded their head at them, and ran back to the others. The pastry was split into seven pieces, one given to Nevada who was waiting outside the room, and the crew ate as they walked through the only other passageway, hopefully not leading to a dead end.

Walking in, the group squealed in surprise when they saw three frogs in the same room. After the initial reaction though, and seeing the frogs weren’t being aggressive, the group calmed down considerably. The room was very simple and plain, just a long hallway with the frogs. A somewhat notable thing was the wall was filled to the brim with cracks this time, looking like just a punch to the wall could make it all crumble down. It looked old to say the least.  
  
Breanne and Geneva went and listened to the first two frogs, though they had no idea what they were saying. Both of them seemed to just make up a conversation, pretending they understood what the frogs were saying.  
  
Scout, Nevada, and Rivera and gone towards the wall to examine a mouse hole esque shape, being interested in finding more mice. Instead they found a very tiny frog, which gave them a cute wave. The trio let out soft ‘aww’s.  
  
Lexi walked over and bent down towards the last frog, listening to it talk. The soft voice that came frequently translated for her, just like for the first frog Lexi talked to.

“I have heard you are quite merciful for humans…” The Froggit told her. “Surely you know by now a monster wears a yellow name when you spare it. What do you think of that?”

“That’s… Very helpful actually.” Lexi replied, having the slight feeling to punch herself for not having realized it sooner.

“It is rather helpful. Remember, sparing is just saying you won’t fight. Maybe one day you’ll have to do it even if their name isn’t yellow.”

Crossing her arms, Lexi looked down for a moment. Rather foreboding, but deeply insightful. She nodded, “Thanks frog guy, I’ll keep that in mind.”

Just as the group were finishing up and leaving that section of the ruins, the phone rang in Breanne’s pocket. She picked it up with a playful sigh, answering it.

“Hello?” Toriel asked

“Sup?”

“I just realized it has been awhile since I have cleaned up. I was not expecting to have company so soon. There are probably a lot of things lying here and there. You can pick them up, but do not carry more than you need.” Toriel started to trail off, and Breanne nodded her head as Toriel then continued, “Someday you might see something you really like. You will want to leave room in your pockets for that.”

The phone clicked off, and Breanne put it back into her pocket, somewhat surprised she’s had it in the tight space as long as she had, without it falling out.

“Motherly advice, in our time of need.” Breanne said, causing the others to giggle. They continued onward, ready to figure out the next puzzle in store.

Walking in, they noticed that the room was large. There were a few floor patches that would surely drop them, the vents in the walls only increasing that suspicion, and at the end of the room was a couple of spikes blocking their way. Once again, being too large to jump over.

“Okay, there should be a switch around here…” Lexi whispered to herself, taking a look around. The group did their part as well, but they found no sign of a switch being in the room. At least, not up where they were standing.

“Okay, there are six different patches. If at least six of us go down, we should be able to figure this out in no time.” Lexi theorized, the group nodding.

“Breanne had to fight our last monster, so she should stay back.” Rivera commented, to which the rest nodded. Each taking a different part, the rest jumped.

Nevada ended up in a room not with a switch, but finding Napstablook. They bent down, giving a patient smile.

“I fell down a hole… Now I can’t get up…” Napstablook whispered.

“Do you… want me to help?” Nevada asked, but the ghost shook their head.

“Go on without me…” Suddenly, their faced shifted into one of realization. “Wait, ghosts can fly, can’t they… Oh well…”

Without a second notice, Napstablook disappeared, despite Nevada trying to call them back. Sighing, they went back upstairs, feeling disappointed at not seeing Napstablook up there either.

In another hole, Rivera sighed, not finding the switch. In the corner of their eye they saw a red, though the color was faded, ribbon in the corner. They smiled, knowing exactly who would enjoy something like that. As they reached over, however, they were pulled into a battle with Migosp and Moldsmal.

_Migosp crawled up close!_

No mention of the Moldsmal, weird.

“Ah, fuck, okay.” Rivera groaned. Looking over, they saw that Moldsmal was already sparable. Deciding to make less work for themselves, they did so immediately. Now they were ready to face Migosp on their own.

“Bein’ me is the best!” Migosp suddenly exclaimed. Rivera watched in the battle box, as Migosp did a little dance, looking like they didn’t have a care in the world. Smiling, Rivera left them be.

_YOU WON!_

_Earned 0 XP and 3 gold._

After admiring their own earn, they ran over to the other side of the room. They picked up the faded ribbon and headed back upstairs.

While both Geneva, Scout, and Lexi didn’t find a switch, the former two headed back upstairs just fine.  
  
Lexi, however, got a bit curious about the carrot sticking out of the ground. Poking at it a bit, she jumped when it suddenly popped out. It definitely look like a carrot, but with an almost scary grin, looking straight from a horror movie. Suddenly, she was pulled out into battle.

_Vegetoid came out of the earth!_

With a sigh, Lexi decided to try and check Vegetoid. Though considering how it went with Breanne, she didn’t expect her to give her anything useful. Though she was shocked, when that voice read for her.

  _VEGETOID 6 ATK - 6 DEF_

_Serving size: 1 Monster_

_Not monitored by the USDA_

“Farmed locally, very locally.” The monster commented.

“Well shit.” Lexi commented, dodging out of the way of attacks that came. When her options came back, she frowned at the softly cackling Vegetoid.

“Okay, okay, options…” She whispered. Looking over, she saw the word ‘dinner’ raised as an act. Almost laughing, she decided to pick that one. She patted her stomach, as it rumbled. Vegetoid offered her a healthy meal.

“Eat your greens.” They told her as more attacks fell down. She ended up touching a green colored attack, which didn’t hurt her, instead giving back some health she’d lost. Convenient.

Giving a mysterious smile, and a yellow name, Lexi decided it was time to spare them.

_YOU WON!_

_Earned 0 XP and 4 gold._

“Sweet, money.” Lexi commented, shoving it into her pocket and heading back upstairs. Crawling out through another vent like opening, Lexi saw that the spikes leading to the next area was gone, and the others were gathered together.

“Here, I thought you might like this.” Rivera stated, handing the faded ribbon to Nevada. They smiled, wrapping it in their hair.

“It’s really cute! Thank you.” Nevada replied.

“So who found the switch?” Lexi asked, and Royal raised her hand.

“I did, finally didn’t mess something up.”

“A miracle.”  
  
The rest moved on to the next room, wondering if the seemingly endless onslaught of puzzles would end.


	8. The Gang Drag Their Stupid Asses Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Only took you eight weeks

Walking in, the gang raised their eyebrows at the puzzle in the room. There were a few colored switches almost looking like mushrooms around pillars. Turning to her left, Geneva took a look at the writing on the wall, reading to herself to see if she could get a clue on what the puzzle was here.

“The far door is not an exit, It simply marks a rotation in perspective.” She hummed. Turning away from it, she rejoined the group while they made their way down. As they walked along, the group was surprised to find that the spikes were already disabled. They stood back as Nevada slightly poked at it with their stick. No reaction. They carefully stepped over, relieved when no spikes came back up to harm them. They walked into the next room, and immediately noted that the next room looked almost exactly like the previous, though with switches and pillars were in different positions.

This time, unlike the room they had just left, there _did_ end up being spikes blocking their exit. The group groaned, annoyed that they had to figure out more puzzles.

Scour looked to their right, reading a message and whispering to themselves.

“If you can read this, press the blue switch.” They muttered. Shrugging, they walked over to the pillar with the blue switch behind it. Easy enough.

Along the way, though, they bumped into a monster, and their soul was brought out into battle.

_Loox drew near!_

Without a second thought, Scout picked the ACT button, their three options reading “Check,” “Pick On,” and “Don’t Pick On.” Scout put their hands on their hips. Pick on a monster, like this? Absolutely not! They were a good group, thus they made the decision to not pick on them.

“Finally, someone gets it.” Loox stated as the battle box appeared. After dodging out of the way of the bubble-like attacks floating through, Scout’s options came back up. Watching as Loox gnashed their teeth, they checked their name to see if they were able to spare them yet. Seeing as they were, Scout immediately pressed down, sparing the monster.

_YOU WON!_

_Earned 0 XP and 5 gold._

“Damn, that’s bank!” Rivera yelled out, as Scout took their claim. They laughed as they walked over and pressed the switch, causing the spikes to draw down and allowing the group to go past them. They quickly walked over to the next room… Which was just another room with switches. Very boring to say the least. Nevada took care of the red switch, as Royal took care of the green switch in the last room. After fighting another Loox, they finally moved on.

“Can we not have another switch puzzle? Three in a row is… Kinda lazy.” Rivera commented, causing Lexi kicked at them.

“Bro shut up, you’ve been doing nothing but complain since we got here.”

“Okay, you have no right to talk though.” Rivera replied, kicking at her in return.

The group walked straight down—ignoring the sharp turn to the left for now—into a little corridor with a Froggit at the end. Lexi, before entering, bent down to listen to them.

“Just between you and me…” They whispered, “I saw Toriel come out here just a little while ago. She was carrying some groceries. I didn’t ask what they were for… We’re all too intimidated to talk to her.”

“Oh boy.” Lexi replied. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

With newfound respect for Toriel, Lexi followed her friends into the room, and though she knew Toriel wasn’t there, she marveled in the view.

A purple city laid below them, with beautiful buildings capturing its glow. Though they couldn’t see the monsters bustle about, the view from above was still just as amazing. Every building looked almost like a piece apart of a castle.

Before they left, something in the corner of the balcony caught Geneva’s eye. She walked over and picked it up. A toy knife. Completely plastic, and sure to make some parents mad if not paired with a Halloween prop or play kitchen. Smiling, Geneva put it in her pocket, carrying it with her.

They went back and turned to the other hallway this time, walking upwards towards a leaf pile and into a room with a large, black, barren tree in the middle, also surrounded by its own leaf pile. It seemed obvious now where all the leaves were coming from. As soon as they were in, the gang heard a frantic voice yelling.

“Oh dear, that took longer than I thought it would.” They saw Toriel walk by the tree, and speed dial them. The ring from Breanne’s pocket alerted her, and she turned towards the group, looking surprised.

“How did you get here, my children?” She questioned. “Are you hurt?”  
  
“We walked, and it’s nothing major.” Rivera replied. “Breanne and Scout were with us. So you know.”

“There, there. I will heal you.” She replied, green magic lighting up the room. The group relaxed, all feeling better, HP fully healed.

“I should not have left you alone for so long.” She sighed. “It was irresponsible to try and surprise you like this.”  
  
“Surprise?” Nevada questioned, tilting their head, to which Toriel flushed.

“Err… Well, I suppose I cannot hide it any longer. Come, small ones!”

Just as Toriel turned around, Rivera ran up to the front of the group, shooing them away.

“Sorry guys, short people only.” They said, to which Royal ran up closer to them.

“Lol, bye! 5’5 left at the door.” She added, while the others yelled playfully and chased them both inside. Lexi took a chance to save, waving her hand through the star as she passed it and cautiously followed the rest.

_Seeing such a cute, tidy house in the Ruins gives you determination._

“Do you smell that?” Toriel asked the group as they walked inside. Nevada looked eager, already slightly excited.

“Yeah, it smells _really_ good.”

“Surprise!” Toriel exclaimed. “It is a butterscotch-cinnamon pie. I thought we might celebrate your arrival. And don’t you two worry, I have researched, and gluten doesn’t exist in monster food.”

“OH HELL YES!” Scout and Geneva screamed, pumping their fists into the air. Toriel laughed before speaking once more.

“I thought we might celebrate your arrival.” She stated again. “I want you to have a nice time living here. So I will hold off on the snail pie for tonight.”

“Blessed.” Breanne replied, giving a lazy peace sign, making the others laugh again. Toriel’s smile widened.

“Here, I have another surprise for you. ” She said, walking into the next room. The others followed behind.

“This is it.” Grabbing Lexi’s hand as she was the closest, the girl look flustered, but didn’t pull away as Toriel showed them to a door.

“A room of your own! I hope you like it.” She told them, rubbing Lexi’s head. She sighed, and closed her eyes, relaxing.

“Question. How many beds are in there?” Rivera asked, to which Toriel looked to the side.

“Um, only one… But I’m sure-”

“Shotgun on bed!” Rivera screamed, running in, the others chasing behind to fight for the bed. Only Lexi stayed out momentarily. Toriel sniffed something, and looked concerned.

“Is something burning…? Um, make yourself at home!” The goat told her, running into the kitchen. Lexi shrugged, going into the room to fight for bed dominance.

The group laid on top of each other, sprawled out as each person stubbornly tried to claim the bed for themselves, making an effective dog pile. All except Breanne, who had been perfectly content to sleep on the rug on the floor.  
  
The room was very orange, but the colors were soft and easy to look at despite the amount. Giant plushies lined the side of the bed against the wall, and there was a box at the foot of the bed filled with even more plushies and toys. Two lamps stood at each side of the room (one being turned off), and against the wall were a toy chest, a shoe drawer with some papers and an empty photo frame on top, and a closet. Pinned to the wall was a doodle of a golden flower.  
  
The group didn’t think about the implications of who might have once lived here, too tired anyway, and promptly took naps on their spots in the room.

Lexi felt herself slowly waking up, the one at the very top of the pile (along with Nevada who likely would have been crushed if under even one person). Slowly making her way off the others, she took one of the seven pieces of butterscotch cinnamon pie that were laid out on plates for them. As she picked up the little fork that came with it, she ate in silence, taking this time she had to think about how to get out of the ruins.

With as nice as Toriel has been, she doubted that the others would be able to tell the goat mother straight up. They would dance around the issue for weeks, until Lexi would actually speak up, probably by that point in a less than kind manner. Even for Breanne and Scout, she would surely doubt they would be able to tell Toriel bluntly, and the cycle would continue.

Standing up, she decided to take the chance she had now to tell Toriel that she wanted _out_ of the ruins. That _they_ wanted out of the ruins. They needed to go home. She opened and quietly shut the door behind her, walking through the hallway and into the living room, over to Toriel.

She was seated in a chair, glasses on, reading over through a book. Taking a deep breath, Lexi walked over to her.

“Up already, I see?” She questioned, before looking to the side. “Um, I want you to know how glad I am to have someone here. There are so many old books I want to share. I want to show you my favorite bug hunting spot. I’ve also prepared a curriculum for your educations.”

Lexi averted her eyes and crossed her arms. Did Toriel  know that she was going to ask this question? Because it was making it _very_ hard to ask to leave, after all this. But she decided to keep her resolve, continuing to listen as Toriel spoke.

“This may come as a surprise to you… But I have always wanted to be a teacher.” Lexi almost smiled at that. It wasn’t a surprise at all.

“Really?”

“...Actually, perhaps that isn’t very surprising.” She chuckled. “STILL.”

Lexi actually had to hold back a laugh, but she felt a sting in her chest. This was only getting harder.

“I am glad to have you living here.” She continued, before realizing something. “Oh, did you want something? What is it?”

Lexi steeled herself, becoming emotionally dead once again. Of course, here was the big question. Surprisingly, though, she kept silent for a bit longer and contemplated. The original plan was to just… ask Toriel, but… she should probably look around the house first. Lexi wasn’t sure how that’d help, but for all she knew, she could find something important. Besides, it’d be heartbreaking to tell Toriel they needed to go immediately after she rambled about how alone she’s been.  
  
“It’s nothing.”  
  
“Alright, well, come get me if you need anything.”  
  
Lexi nodded briskly, walking a little away to show she wasn’t engaged in the conversation anymore. She looked around the room, noting the cozy atmosphere… And noting the table with three chairs, each different sizes obviously fit for two adults and a child. Lexi winced. What happened to Toriel? What happened to her family?  
  
Disinterested in anything else, she walked through a doorway behind where Toriel was seated, entering a kitchen. The most noteworthy thing to her was the pie sitting on the counter, almost completely gone.  
  
Lexi considered having more.  
  
_You remember Toriel might not have had any yet._  
__  
She stopped considering.  
  
The top of the stove was completely clean, looking almost pristine. There was no signs of it ever being used, maybe not even touched.  
  
_Toriel must use fire magic instead._  
  
Probably. Lexi would have too if she had crazy fire powers.  
  
Lexi left the room, deciding the kitchen wouldn’t be useful. She walked straight past Toriel, almost going past the stairs too before stopping. Stairs… They’d probably lead further to their destination. Or at the very least, they’d lead to a horror basement. Lexi quickly walked down them, entering a long purple hallway. Before she even take a step forward, she jolted as she felt Toriel suddenly approach.  
  
“Wh-”

“I think you should play upstairs instead. Come, my child.” Toriel brought her back upstairs, then scurried off.  
  
What the fuck? Okay, Toriel was definitely hiding something down there. Lexi would have to figure it out later when she was done exploring.  
  
Walking back down the yellow hallway where the group’s room was at, she passed it and opened the next door she found. Lexi paused.  
  
The room was so… blue. It felt kind of lonely. A queen sized bed lay near the wall, various potted plants also decorating the room, along with a bookshelf, a drawer, and a desk with an open book on it. Maybe a book. Lexi couldn’t see the words from where she was standing. But the two golden flowers growing on the bookshelf is what caught her eye, standing out with their bright yellow.  
  
Lexi backed out of the room quietly. It was obviously Toriel’s room, and she didn’t want to go snooping in there. Curiosity was one thing, looking in someone's own room was another.  
  
The next door in the hallway didn’t open. It had a sign on it, reading “Room under renovations.”  
  
Hm. A tad suspicious, but she couldn’t do anything about it.  
  
Seeing a mirror in the wall beside the door, Lexi looked into it, finally seeing her reflection after god knows how long. Christ she looked shaggy right now.  
  
_It’s you!_  
__  
Lexi t-posed. Assert dominance.  
  
She burst out laughing at herself for a few minutes after that.  
  
She wheezed, heading back down the hallway towards where Toriel was. Her mood quickly soured, remembering what she needed to do. Right. God, it’d be so much easier if nobody had families to go back to, or… something. Lexi just wished it could somehow be easier to do this.  
  
Once in the same space as Toriel, she had a sudden urge to look at the bookshelf. Might as well. She picked up a random book, also flipping to a random page. Surprisingly she picked a good page, as what she was reading made sense without further context.  
  
_Trapped behind the barrier and fearful of human attacks, we retreated. Far, far into the earth we walked, until we reached the cavern’s end. This was our new home, which we named…_  
__  
_“Home.”_  
__  
_As great as our king is, he is pretty lousy at names._  
  
Lexi snorted.  
  
She placed the book back and then turned to Toriel, feeling apprehensive yet determined to do this.  
  
Toriel looked up, smiling. “Did you want to hear about the book I am reading? It is called “72 Uses For Snails.” How about it?”  
  
Lexi frowned, “Um… no. I’m sorry, Toriel. We need to leave the Ruins.” Lexi explained. “I understand there isn’t much of a way out, but we need to at least find one. We can’t stay here.”

“...I have to do something. Stay here.” Toriel said abruptly, standing up from the chair, briskly running off.

“Hey! Don’t ignore me!” Lexi shouted, giving chase. She ran to the front of the house, watching as Toriel went down into the basement. Lexi followed, chasing her down the stairs.

She stopped just behind her. The purple walls were almost intimidating. But she remained unfazed, looking at Toriel with fire in her eyes.

“You wish to know how to return “home,” do you not?”

“Yeah, that’s what I fucking asked.” Lexi replied. Toriel continued without notice.

“Ahead of us lies the end of the Ruins. A one way exit to the rest of the underground. I am going to destroy it. No one will ever be able to leave again.”

“Are you fucking insane?!” Lexi screamed, but Toriel still didn’t look back.

“Now be a good child, and head upstairs.” She told her, walking ahead. Lexi chased after her, even more angry than she was before.

“No, I see you’re fucking stupid! Hell no I’m not going back upstairs. Who the hell do you think you are?!” Lexi continued to scream, running after her. After a minute, the goat woman stopped again, shoulders seemingly almost sagging.

“Every human that falls down here meets the same fate. I have seen it again and again.” She stated. “They come. They leave. They die. You naive child… If you leave the Ruins… They… Asgore… Will kill you. I am only protecting you, do you understand?”

“No, I fucking don’t. I’m not stupid. I know there are dangers outside of the Ruins, but there are fucking _seven_ of us! And protecting doesn’t come in the form of keeping us here against our will. God, stop acting so _pathetic_!” Lexi shouted, pointing a finger at her. Toriel almost looked like she was shaking, but her voice still held her resolve.

“...Go to your room.” Toriel commanded, walking forward and turning a bend. Lexi defied, continuing to follow her, blood boiling. She was angry.

“Do not try and stop me. This is your final warning.” Toriel told her.

“Fucking try me.” Lexi replied, stepping forward to challenge her. When they finally came to the purple colored exit, Toriel stood, voice just as contained as ever. Lexi stood behind her, fists clenched.

“You want to leave so badly? Hmph.” Toriel said. “You are just like the others. Just more vulgar.”

“Well why do you think that is?” Lexi shot back. Toriel shook her head.

“There is only one solution to this. Prove yourself... Prove to me your strong enough to survive.”

“I’ve made it this far. Bring it on.” Lexi growled.

The scene around her went black, and the fight began.


	9. (determination)

_Toriel blocks the way!_

Even though Lexi had been mad at Toriel, she didn’t actually want to hurt her. She just wanted to make her realize that she was being stupid! Her hand hovered over the attack button, but she closed it instead. No, that wasn’t right. She decided to try ACT instead, to see if there was anything she could do.

Pressing down on it, she saw check and talk. She decided to do check first, to see if there was any information to be gleaned from this.  
  
_TORIEL - 80 ATK 80 DEF  
__Knows what’s best for you._

“No. She doesn't.” Lexi quietly replied to the voice in her head, deciding alone that she would figure out later if she had gone insane or not. She watched as, in the battle box, fire had come down, surrounding her soul. She moved around it, trying to do her best to avoid the attacks, but a few still hit. 

14/20 HP.  
  
Lexi shrieked, clutching her chest-  
  
11/20 HP.  
  
It _burned_ it hurt so _much_ \- Lexi’s vision went blank for a moment, and she stumbled backward from the pain. God, fuck, fuck… she deeply inhaled, seething through her teeth and holding her stance tightly.

When her options came back, she almost decided to hit the attack button. Her hands were shaking as she stared at her options. But, she looked over at Toriel’s face. Her eyes were averted despite the facade of a uncaring face, which made Lexi once again reconsider. She pressed ACT once again, and tried to talk to Toriel.

“I’m not going to fight you. I don’t care if you’re afraid about other monsters attacking me. I’ve had at least ten other monsters try to fight me in the Ruins, and all ten I didn't have to fight. I’m not starting this for you.” Lexi said, tone almost desperate.

Toriel almost looked to take a deep breath, but didn’t reply as she hailed more fire attacks raining down.

That’s when it happened.

There was so many to avoid and too many to predict, the fire burning all around her and creating a harsh scene that made her vision dance. She wasn’t skilled enough yet, she was just a _child_ and she just wanted to go home. She felt a burning, crackling pain deep in her soul. Too many had hit, too many were coming-  
  
Her screaming stopped.  
  
Everything stopped as she felt herself falling. Her body felt weightless and burning, like a dying flower in its last moments. The world began to fuzz and move as if it was a T.V screen glitching out and the world around her was starting to turn black. Her eyesight faded as the last thing she saw was Toriel with her hands to her mouth in horror, and Lexi’s soul cracking and shattering above her  
  
  
  
as she died.

 

* * *

  
  
So this was dying.  
  
A black, desolate void. Her thoughts were blurry, but the one question that came to mind was, is this really the end?  
  
It felt sad.

She felt like she was heavy, yet floating in this sea of darkness. Her body burdened with a heavy pressure that didn’t exist.  
  
Lexi perked up. Music played within her ears, starting soft and then building up and echoing through this void almost in a hopeful manner. And a deep voice spoke to her. She couldn’t see him, the void around her completely dark. But she could hear him. It wasn’t a voice she recognized, but she felt like it was a voice someone else did. She felt like someone was giving her this voice… this _memory_.

“You’re going to be alright!” He told her. “LEXI! Stay determined…”

Could she really keep going?  
  
Lexi thought of her friends. Her home. Every moment she spent with them, every moment she was happy, every moment she truly felt alive and joyful to be in this world.  
  
The will to live.  
  
“I’m not ready to die yet…” Lexi whispered. “There’s still… something I have to do.”

The world around her faded from black to white, as her vision cleared, and the last thing she saw was a blur of _green and yellow_ -  
  
And she was back in front of Toriel’s house.

Lexi looked around, left to right. Where was she? Didn’t she just… Die a second ago? Standing up, she walked back into the house, and watched as a familiar scene played out in front of her.

“Do you smell that?” Toriel asked the group as they walked inside.  
  
Lexi tried not to express anything, but felt herself slowly coming to a realization. Is this what saving did? Rewind time when you died? Lexi decided to do what she did before; put it past her, for now. She still had something she needed to do.

She needed to fight Toriel again, and this time, she needed to live.

After going through the same song and dance Lexi found herself back in the same position as last time, fighting Toriel. She knew what to do this time. It’d be okay.

Lexi had realized that she couldn’t focus and also talk to Toriel at the same time, getting herself riled up and angry made her lose focus. It made her more susceptible to fire attacks. And despite everything, after seeing Toriel’s face after she died… No, she couldn’t be too angry. She was still pissed, and didn’t want to stay. But she still wasn’t going to fight her.

As she continued to dodge out of the way of fire attacks, she remembered what that Froggit told her.

_Sparing is just saying you won’t fight. Maybe one day you’ll have to do it even if their name isn’t yellow._

Lexi took a deep breath, and pressed on the MERCY button, and spared Toriel. She knew the goat mother was looking right through her, but she didn’t care. Toriel could look, but all she would find is her sheer determination, pulsing brightly in her soul.

Toriel said nothing, as she continued her fire attacks.

And Lexi spared again.

Nothing.

And again, getting better at dodging the attacks.

 _Nothing_.

And again.

This time, Toriel looked questionably at Lexi. Still trying to act aloof, however, as Lexi continued to doge her attacks.

Lexi continued to not say anything too. All she continued to do was spare Toriel.

“What are you doing?” Toriel asked her, summoning more attacks.

“What do you think?” Lexi replied, sparing once again.

“Attack or run away!”

“No.” She spared again.

“What are you proving this way?” Toriel asked. Lexi stared at her, with a fire burning in her eyes and chest.

“I’m not going to repeat myself.” Lexi replied, sparing once again.

“Fight me or leave!”

“No.”

Toriel attacked, “Stop it.”

“ _No_.” Lexi repeated.

Spared again and attacked again.

Toriel looked to the side, face scrunching up. “Stop looking at me that way.”

“In what way? Anger, sadness?”

“Go away!” Toriel shouted.

“No.”

Attack, and spare. Again.  _Again_ , but this time the sadness on Toriel’s face only became more apparent. Lexi was breaking through her shell. And this time, she didn’t even have to dodge. The attacks simply avoided her. Toriel moved in a defeated manner.

“I know you want to go home, but…” 

“But what, Toriel?” Lexi pleaded. She wanted this to be over.

“But please… Go upstairs now.”

“You and I both know I won’t.”

“I promise I will take good care of you here.” Toriel smiled at her, but Lexi kept a blank face.

Lexi sighed, “I’m sure you would,” and she spared again.

“I know we do not have much, but… We can have a good life here.”

“I wouldn’t. _We_ wouldn’t. ”

“Why are you making this so difficult?” The smile faded from Toriel’s face, but she did not look angry.

“I could ask the same of you.” Lexi replied. She spared again.

“Please, go upstairs.”  
  
“No!” Lexi almost yelled. She shook her head.

Toriel looked away from Lexi with a deep sadness in her face. Lexi clenched her fists, and willed herself not to cry.

She knew that Toriel had watched the children leave and die. She knew she would literally fight tooth and nail to keep her safe here. But she had somewhere else she needed to be, and she… no, _they_ . The group. _They_ wouldn’t be happy here.

Lexi sighed.

“Ha ha…” Toriel laughed tiredly, eyes still averted. Lexi shook her head, “Pathetic, is it not? I could not save even a single child.”

“It wasn’t your fault. We all want to go home.”

Toriel was silent, along with Lexi.  
  
And for the final time, Lexi spared.

“No, I understand. You would just be unhappy trapped down here. The Ruins are very small once you get used to them. It would not be right for you to grow up in a place like this. My expectations… My loneliness… My fears… For you, my child. I will put them aside.”

The fight ended, and the scenery came back, fading from black to violet to lavender. Lexi felt herself relax, but also felt a deep sense of sadness at the same time. A bittersweet moment, she could say.

“If you truly wish to leave the Ruins… I will not stop you. However, when you leave… Please do not come back. I hope you understand.”

“No, I get it completely.”

Toriel suddenly grabbed Lexi into an embrace, and Lexi decided to let herself hug back. After everything, it was the least she could do. Had she died? Probably. But in this moment, it didn’t matter. It was too complicated to think about. Nothing here was perfect, and everything is hard. But this hug, somehow… It just felt right.

“Lexi, Toriel!” The group shouted, running towards them. Rivera, up in the front, seemed to be out of breath as the rest of the group was behind them.

“We looked everywhere for you guys.” They panted. “We were gonna ask you something, but couldn’t find you anywhere. We kinda need to leave.”  
  
“We’d rather not stay here forever and we all have… homes, and lives to go back to.” Nevada added on, looking nervous.

Toriel let out a soft chuckle, before bringing in the rest of the group for a hug, to which they gladly accepted.

“I already discussed it with Lexi…” Toriel said.

“Alright… Uh…” Rivera scratched the back of their head, and the rest of the group looked sad.

“Goodbye, my children.” Toriel stated, walking away. She stopped for a moment to look at them. A last final glance, longing in her eyes to keep the group safe but understanding now that, she'd just have to hope. But they didn’t notice, as they all continued to look at the door intently. So she then turned around, and continued out of sight.

“We’re not coming back after this.” Lexi stated. To which Rivera shrugged.

“I figured. Y'all ready?”

“Yeah, I’ll keep an eye out for you guys.” Breanne stated, with Scout smiling behind her. With a deep breath, the group opened the Ruins doors.

And left.


	10. The Gang Finds The North Pole

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> oh my god it's Ness

Opening the door, the group found their way into a long purple hallway, resembling something from a horror movie.. None of them said anything, as they uneasily walked up through the corridor.

“Should we have… said it so directly like that?” Royal asked, and Geneva shrugged.

“I don’t think there would have been an easier way to say it.”

It was quiet once again, as they continued to make their way forward. The ground below them was getting a lighter, and lighter shade of purple, until they made their way to the end.

And that’s when they saw _him._

Scout and Breanne immediately got in front of the group, holding their arms out to shield them from any harm as they stared at the flower with viciousness.

“Clever. Verrrryyy clever.” Flowey chuckled, looking straight at Lexi, and she angrily stared right back.

“Go away.” Scout growled. Flowey ignored them, and continued to talk at Lexi.

“You think your real smart, don’t you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Lexi replied.

Flowey scoffed, “In this world, it’s kill or be killed. So you were able to play by your own rules. You spared the life of a single person.”

“I think it’s called being a decent fucking person. And fuck off, I spared more than one.”

“ _Lexi._ ” Breanne warned, but Flowey laughed.

“I bet you feel really great. You didn’t kill anybody this time.”

“Yeah, that’s how someone normally feels when they’re not fucking evil.” Lexi couldn’t hold herself back, and Rivera grabbed her arm and pulled her back some.

“But what will you do if you meet a relentless killer?” Flowey questioned, “You’ll die and you’ll die and you’ll die, until you tire of trying. What will you do then?”

Flowey’s face suddenly became scary. Lexi remained unfazed, as Rivera’s grip on her arm tightened.

“Will you kill out of frustration? Or will you give up entirely on this world… and let ME inherit the power to control it?”

“I’ll do what I have to. But I’ll be fucked if I ever let YOU take the reigns.” Lexi replied, calmly this time.

“I am the prince of this world’s future. Don’t worry, my little monarch, My plan isn’t regicide. This is SO much more interesting.”

Flowey’s face suddenly contorted, and looked like he pulled himself out of his petals. He gave a nightmarish laugh, before going back to normal, and popping back into the ground.

Everyone was silent for a moment.

“Piss on the grass patch!” Geneva screamed, her hands going towards the button of her jeans. While the group screamed both yes’! and no’s!, Lexi stayed silent, taking the time to think about what she had been told.  
  
Kill or be killed. Lexi considered herself a pretty edgy person, but even that was too much. What the hell was wrong with this flower? Why did he even have such a grim look on the world? It was like one of those villains from the many video games Lexi had seen. And… what was with the save thing? Could she really keep coming back? Lexi closed her eyes, before opening them a second later.

Yeah, let Geneva piss on his grass patch, she decided. She wasn’t fucking scared of him. She could live as many times as she wanted to.

As the group finally finished up with their bantering, they took a deep breath, and went outside the Ruin’s opening, and out into the rest of the Underground…

The first thing the group did immediately was complain.

“What the fuck, it’s cold as shit!” Royal shouted, to which the rest started to laugh.

“Royal, you’ll live. It’s pretty nice actually.” Rivera commented, to which Royal scoffed.

“Yeah cause you lived on the border of Canada. And how does it snow inside a mountain?!”  
  
“Pretty _nice_? It’s cold as hell! There’s snow! You’re wearing a crop-top!” Nevada gestured their arms around, “We’re going to freeze to death.” They huddled into their sweater, almost completely enveloped in the mint and blue color of it.  
  
With the group continuing to talk, Nevada backed out of the conversation to eye something they noticed in the large snowy bush next to them. A small little out of place speck was inside. Tapping Scout for assistance, the two took a peek, and discovered… a camera.

Odd.  
  
“There’s a camera here.” Nevada said, poking at it. They then turned it around so it was facing the leaves of the bush.

The group turned for a moment, making some questions about why a _camera_ , that’s kind of creepy, before moving on with now a slight sense of unease.

With the rest starting to move, and laughter and grumbling coming from Royal, the group didn’t really take notice of the branch in their way, simply choosing to step over it.

Until it broke.

The sound was loud. Nevada looked behind them, but didn’t find anyone there. It was… strange, and Nevada felt anxiety starting to creep up on them.

“It was probably our weight, don’t worry ‘bout it.” Breanne told them, but still pulled them in front of her. They continued to walk, though the talking died down some. Through their own footsteps, they almost failed to notice an extra pair following behind them.

Nevada looked back, but found nothing. They wondered if a some sort of unholy being was following the group. They inched closer to Breanne.  
  
It was suddenly completely quiet from the group, and their pace picked up. As the group was reaching a bridge with a large gaped gate between it, Rivera felt themselves forced to stop.

They couldn’t move.

“Rivera?” Breanne asked. Rivera couldn’t even shake their head.

“Can’t move.” They whispered fearfully.  
  
The rest watched in terror as a short, yet looming figure slowly came behind them. They watched them continue to walk forward, with the crunch of the snow under their feet. The group was unsure of what to do next, but stood ready to defend should they try to hurt Rivera.

“Human.” They stated. “Don’t you know how to greet a new pal? Turn around and shake my hand.”  
  
Trying not to pass out, Rivera felt their heart beat in their head as they were forced to turn around. The hand extended towards theirs. Not even paying attention to what the person looked like, they reached out and shook their hand, preparing for the worst.

And a fart sound rang out throughout the area.

The group lost their shit, and started yelling complaints while Breanne gave a snort. Rivera, feeling they could move again, quickly pulled their hand away, and taking a sharp breath.

“Heheh…” The… skeleton? laughed. He was wearing a blue hoodie, hand outstretched with something in his hand. “The old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. It’s ALWAYS funny.”

“Bullshit! What're trying to do, give me a heart attack? Fucking kill me? God hell…” Rivera shouted, putting their hand on their chest. The skeleton gave a deep chuckle, causing Geneva who was watching from the rest, to look to the side, a bit flustered.

“Anyways, you guys are humans right? That’s hilarious.”  
  
“Yeah, a real fucking chuckle mate.” Rivera replied, only to make the skeleton laugh again.

“I’m Sans. Sans the skeleton.” He told them.

“Rivera. I would shake your hand but I’m certain there’s another whoopee cushion there.”

“Heh, who knows.”

The rest had chilled out and settled down, not seeing the skeleton as too threatening. Nevada kept eyeing him, however, still not fully convinced of his supposed goodness.

“I’m actually supposed to be on the watch for humans right now.”

The group tensed.

“But… Y’know… I don’t really care about capturing anybody.”

And they un-tensed.

“Stop trying to send me into cardiac arrest.” Rivera groaned. Sans was once again humored.

“Now my brother, Papyrus-” Sans started, but Rivera interrupted him, pointing and yelling.

“OH! This all makes sense now! Of course you have a brother! You’re like my own older brother! Fucking obnoxious!”

Sans tried to finish the sentence, but ended up wheezing and grabbing his chest in complete laughter. The others behind Rivera were laughing too, save for them self who was still pointing and yelling. After about a minute, they finally managed to calm down. Sans had his hands to his chest, taking a moment to finally put together his words.

“My brother, Papyrus… he’s a human hunting FANATIC.” He stated.

“Jesus Christ on a bicycle, okay.”

They broke out into laughter again, before the group froze in fear at what Sans said.

“Hey, actually, I think that’s him over there.”

“Shit.” Rivera whispered.

“I have an idea.” Sans stated. “Go through this gate thingy. Yeah, go right through. My bro made the bars to wide to stop anyone.”

Without anytime to sass, the group was quickly pulled along into the open… with 7 lamps to the left of them, all shaped in the silhouette of each member of the group.

“Quick, behind those conveniently-shaped lamps.”

As Rivera mouthed ‘bullshit!’ to him, they all quickly hid behind their respective lamps, as the supposed related skeleton came through. He was _tall_ , and wearing some sort of white armor, along with a big red scarf. His stance radiated confidence.

“Sup bro?” Sans asked.

“You know what ‘sup’ brother! It’s been eight days and you still haven’t… re-calibrated. Your. Puzzles!” Papyrus yelled.

The group behind all covered their mouths, both afraid yet trying _so_ hard not to laugh.

“You just hang around outside your station! What are you even doing?!?” Papyrus continued.

“Staring at these lamps. It’s real cool. Do you wanna look?” Sans replied.  
  
The group was ready to strangle Sans.

“No! I don’t have time for that!” Papyrus shouted, having the group relax once more. “What if a human comes through here?! I want to be ready! I will be the one! I must be the one! I will capture a human!”

“Aw…” Rivera whispered to themselves. Yeah, he was probably going to kill them. But it seems like it would at least be a more pleasant way to die. This skeleton was too cute.

“Then, I, the Great Papyrus…” He continued. “Will get all the things I utterly deserve! Respect… recognition… I will finally be able to join the royal guard! People will ask, to, be my, “friend?”. I will bathe in a shower of kisses every morning.”

Rivera resisted the urge to scream out that they could do all that for him, at the low price of nothing.

“Hmm…” Sans replied. “Maybe these lamps will help you.”

Rivera took off their shoe, but did nothing as the group silently urged them not to.

“Sans!” Papyrus screamed. “You are not helping, you lazybones! All you do is sit around and boondoggle, you get lazier and lazier everyday!”

“Mood.” Royal whispered, and Nevada shushed her, desperately wanting the group to not get caught.

“Hey, take is easy.” Sans continued. “I’ve gotten a ton of work done today. A skele-ton.”  
  
With a wink, he turned to a non-existent camera as drums played somewhere off in the distance. Rivera’s urge to throw their shoe was rising.

“Sans!” Papyrus shouted once again.

“Come on. You’re smiling.”

“I am and I hate it!”

Papyrus sighed, shaking his head.

“Why does someone as great as me… have to do so much just to get some recognition…”

“Wow, sound like you’re really working yourself… down to the bone.”

Sans didn’t have a chance to turn, because Rivera’s shoe was thrown at him in that moment. He ducked under, and seemed to have a gleeful smile. Papyrus crossed his arms and scoffed.

“See?! Even the unknown life here as grown sick of your puns!” Papyrus shouted. “Ugh! I will attend to my puzzles… as for your work? Put a little more, “backbone” into it! Nyehehehehehehe!” He shouted, running off.  
  
...Before coming back, giving one more “Heh.” then completely going away.

After a moment, Sans told the group, “Okay, you can come out now.”

Rivera power walked towards their shoe, picked it up, only to once again try to beat Sans with it.

“Dude! I’m going to die! If you keep! Fucking scaring me like this!” They screamed, trying to whack him with their shoe as he kept dodging it, laughing harshly.

“Sans don’t make another pun or I won’t be able to hold them back.” Scout warned him, wrapping their arms around Rivera as they struggled to get out.

“Then you oughta get going. He might come back. And if he does…” He winked. “You’ll have to sit through more of my hilarious jokes.”

“Hilarious my ass!” Rivera shouted, throwing their shoe to the ground, and harshly sticking their foot in it, before walking back off with the group. Sans spoke up again.

“Actually, hey… hate to bother ya, but can you do me a favor? I was thinking… my brother’s been kinda down lately… he’s never seen a human before. And seeing you guys might just make his day.”

“Oh, bone boy wants a favor now. Fuck me.” Rivera sighed, rolling their eyes. To which Geneva this time smacked them on the back of their head, making Sans chuckle once again.

“Don’t worry, he’s not dangerous. Even if he tries to be.”

“No, that’s pretty obvious. He’s cute.” Rivera sighed, putting their hands on their hips. 

Nevada looked to the side. “Are you sure about this? I… don’t think it’s particularly safe to be doing this.”

“Hey, we would probably run into him anyway.” Lexi sighed.  
  
Breanne patted Nevada’s head, “Don’t worry, I got you.”

“...If you say so.”

“Alright. We’ll do it. But this isn’t for you dipshit, it’s for Papyrus.” Rivera agreed, to which Sans smiled just a bit more, even with an already permanent smile etched on.

“Thanks a million. I’ll be up ahead.”


	11. The Gang Meets S̶k̶e̶l̶e̶t̶o̶r̶ Papyrus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He-man

“Oi, that’s not up ahead!” Rivera screamed once again at Sans, as he, instead of walking the way Papyrus went, walked back the way the group came. Throwing up their hands, Rivera walked forward.  
  
Eyeing a save point, Lexi quickly walked over to it and waved down. What she once saw as a strange calling was now a literal life saver to her. She still wondered if she was going crazy and hallucinating the strange stars, but considering the events that have happened, nothing seemed too far impossible.

_ The convenience of that lamp still fills you with determination. _

As she quickly finished up, the group walked through the less-than-straight path,which quickly cut off into two parts. The looming trees from before had been replaced with far friendlier pine trees, a thick forest surrounding them.  
  
Peeking to the left there was a long, dark lake that quietly flowed through. It was a dead end. Although, at the edge of the water, there was a fishing pole affixed to the ground.  Curiously, Nevada walked over and pulled it up. Once reeling it in, they found just a picture of a strange monster on the front. Turning it around so the group could see the picture, they read out loud the words on it to the group. 

“Call me! Here’s my number!” They read. Without even needing to speak, the group decided not to call. So Nevada took the picture and ceremoniously dropped it back into the river. With nothing else to do, they went back up, and continued to explore.

Just before the other path, they all saw a box within the corner of some pine trees with a sign posted next to it. Getting up close, Rivera read the sign aloud as the group went digging within the box to see if there was anything useful inside.

“This is a box. You can put an item inside or take an item out. The same box will appear later, so don’t worry about coming back. Sincerely, a box lover.” 

With a shrug, Rivera turned back to the group, watching as Nevada took the gloves.

“I’m keeping them.” They declared, “If that’s okay. I can’t feel my hands.”

“Fair enough. From what I’m gonna guess, the box magically teleports things.” Rivera replied, scanning over the sign words once more.

“Nothing is impossible anymore. Pigs fly and there’s pig shit everywhere. Everything is shit.” Lexi replied, which had made Rivera laugh. Their laughter increased as they doubled over, clutching their chest and Lexi soon joined, the laughter somewhat contagious. They had to take a moment to recollect themselves.  
  
The group quietly approached when seeing that Sans and Papyrus were there, chatting quietly to each other. Or just standing there? It was hard to tell, but nonetheless the two were standing there, and it was likely that they were waiting for the group.  
  
Rivera waved Breanne and Scout to move aside from the front of the group and Rivera walked up, standing proudly in front. Though Rivera wasn’t as brave as Geneva, they were confident that they would be fine, but Breanne and Scout kept close behind Rivera just in case. They listened as the two skeleton brothers in front of them talked.

“So, as I was saying about Undyne...” Papyrus started, before looking to his side, abruptly noticing the crowd of humans practically waiting for him. He stared for a moment, before surprise suddenly dawned upon his face. He turned to Sans, excitement evident on his face.  
  
Sans turned to look back at the group. Papyrus turned. Sans turned back. Papyrus turned again. This continued, until the two were spinning in circles. As the two finally slowed down, both looked towards the human group. They quickly turned to speak with the other, voices hush.

“Sans! Oh my god! Are those… Humans?!” Papyrus all but yelled.

They turned back to them. Rivera, with a straight face, finger gunned their greeting. Sans shrugged.

“Uhhh…” Sans hummed, “actually, I think that’s a rock.”  
  
Papyrus’ eyes scanned over to the rock behind them, and Rivera’s brows furred.

“Bitch.” They said quietly, but loud enough for Sans to hear, making the group giggle behind them. The taller skeleton turned back to the other, looking disappointed.

“Oh.” Papyrus said, ignoring Rivera’s comment. Sans grin seemed to grow wider.

“Hey, what’s that in front of the rock?”

“Dwayne?” Breanne quietly asked, to which it was unheard over Papyrus screaming, turning back.

“Oh my god!” He suddenly turned back to Sans once again, whispering in a loud voice, “Is… are those humans?”

“Yes.” Sans whispered back.

“Oh my god!” Papyrus screamed again. “Sans! I finally did it!! Undyne will… I’m gonna… I’ll be so… popular! Popular! Popular!” He repeated excitedly, voice full of joy.

“Dude I promise you it’s a sick joke, you just need to feel important and have more than like, one friend.” Rivera commented. They had thrown it out there without much knowledge of Papyrus’ own life, but somewhere, they felt like he’s been where they had been before. Rivera had taken notice to Papyrus’ second long stiffening, before acting like Rivera had said nothing, giving a small ‘ahem’ at the pause.

“Human!” He shouted, before Royal interrupted.

“There’s more than one human, gotta be specific about which one your talking about.”

“Humans!” He replied. “You shall not pass this area.”

Rivera clenched their fists, trying to hold back a bad joke. The skeleton continued.

“I, The Great Papyrus, will stop you! I will then capture you!”

“Can Sans capture me instead?” Geneva asked. Nevada thumped their stick against her, clearly saying ‘stop being lovesick for two seconds’.

“You will be delivered to the capital! Then… then!” Papyrus paused, before speaking again. “I’m not sure what’s next. In any case! Continue… only if you dare!”

“Dude they double dog dared me, I kinda have to.” Rivera replied, smiling at him. The skeleton quickly turned away, choosing to laugh instead. 

“Nyeh heh heh heh heh heh!”

As Papyrus walked away, Sans looked at them, a please look on his face.

“Well. That went well.”

“For now. Soon we’ll be doing something actually dangerous.” Nevada muttered, half sarcastically and half in actual worry. Not everyone was going to be like Papyrus, right?

“Don’t sweat it, kid. I’ll keep an eye socket out for ya.” Sans winked.

Breanne gave a thumbs up, as Rivera once again started to yell at him.

“No the fuck you won’t! Not because I don’t want you to, but because I know you won’t! Lazyass can’t even-”

Nevada thwaped them with their stick, and Sans left the scene. Everyone continued to laugh, as Geneva stared off to where the shorted skeleton had walked off.

“C’mon, let’s keep up!” Geneva stated.   
The rest turned back and nodded, continuing onwards. Lexi looked towards a shotly made… fort, was it? As she tried to get closer to investigate, her soul was pulled into battle.

“Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck.” She groaned. 

_ Snowdrake flutters forth! _

Curiously, Lexi checked. She knew it was wasting time, but the monster looked very different from the past ones, being some weird owl. She was a bit interested in what it was.

_ Snowdrake 6 ATK - 2 DEF _

_ This teen comedian fights to keep a captive audience.  _

Well, let’s see how this fared.

“Better not snow “flake” out!” He commented. Lexi groaned through the entirety of his crescent like attacks, aiming for her soul. That was a very bad joke. He should be arrested for making bad jokes.

Looking at her options, Lexi had to be honest with herself. She heckled him.

“Bro I’ve heard better jokes from the gum off the bottom of my shoe.” She replied. 

“Is your flesh as rotten as you?” He seemed unfazed. Lexi would have put her hand on her hip and stared in disbelief, if she wasn’t busy dodging attacks. Though once she was done, she gave a chuckle, hitting on the laugh in the ACT menu.

“Okay man, got me there.” She shrugged. 

“See!? Laughs! Dad was wrong!” Snowdrake proclaimed. After dodging one more attack, she saw his name in yellow. And spared.

_ YOU WON! _

_ Earned 0 XP and 12 gold. _

“Oh shit, oh shit!” Lexi screamed, picking up the gold. “Goddamn, I’m rich!”

“Twelve of those motherfuckers?” Rivera commented. “We might be able to afford rent when we’re done!”

While the others kept screwing around, Scout peeked over at the cardboard structure in front of them. They read the narration in front, all in perfect Papyrus font.

“You observe the well crafted sentry station… who could have built this, you ponder… I bet it was that very famous royal guardsman!” They read.

“Hold up. It says here ‘Note: Not yet a very famous royal guardsman.’” Royal pointed out, and Rivera scoffed.

“He’s famous in my heart. Let’s get going.”

Continuing to go along, the group moved into the next area, coming across yet another station with a sign beside it. Rivera turned to a sign, giving a snort.

“Absolutely no moving you guys. It’s time to stop.” They told the others, relaying the message from the sign.  
  
“Darn.” Nevada said, “I can’t believe our long journey is finally over. Is this where we live now?”  
  
“I dunno.” Rivera had a grin on their face, “Do you think we have enough for rent? Lexi might be able to pay for it.”  
  
“ _Hey_ , it is _my_ money, I’m not paying for this!” The aforementioned person yelled, her sentence dissolving into more of something akin to gibberish then coherent words. Nevada giggled, poking at her with their stick.  
  
“We are but simple freeloaders, Lexi. Poor old men with no homes... our bones are slowly breaking… you gotta help us out here…”  
  
Lexi let out a strangled noise.  
  
Royal stood in a dramatic pose, “Who are you to tell me when I can and can’t move.” She then took three large steps forward, almost in a taunting way. She paused, suddenly, gaze turning to the station.

Everyone stopped, holding their breath as a black and white monster… dog popped out of the sentry station, wildly looking around with a bone in their mouth.

“Did something move? Was it my imagination?” They asked. “I can only see moving things.”  
  
Well, now the sign made sense.

“If something WAS moving…” they continued. “For example, a human… I’ll make sure it NEVER moves again!”

Suddenly, Royal’s soul was pulled out for battle, and it was time to fight.


	12. The Gang Is Changing Their Name to Dora the Explorer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why does it take you forever just to get from one place to another.

With her soul brought out into battle, Royal tensed up. Someone declaring that they were going to kill her… wasn’t a great way to make memories in Snowdin. Trying to shrug it off, she decided to make a check. She had a feeling that Lexi was the only one who could actually get stats from these guys, but she wanted to check just in case.

_Doggo ??? ATK - ??? DEF_

_Hhhhhhhhmurderpuppy._

Well, her thoughts exactly! But extremely unhelpful.

“Don’t move an inch!” Doggo proclaimed. Royal watched a sword move in front of her soul, with no possible way to avoid it. Knowing either way she was just going to get hit, she stood still, closing her eyes and praying for the best. There had to be a better way than this, she really hoped the entire battle wouldn’t just be attacks you couldn't dodge. That would be extremely unfair. And painful.

But in her moment of staying completely still, the attack... moved through her…? It felt like it phased through her soul, but she wasn’t hurt in the slightest, it was more like a blip.

“Huh…” She whispered. Was the blue magic covering the attack different somehow? She wasn’t sure. She watched as Doggo kept looking around, though unable to find anything.  
  
Royal hummed to herself. Logically, she knew that she should just spare and try to flee from the fight now. But there was a dog… standing right in front of her... And the clothes he was wearing were so  _bad_ , she loved it.

Reaching up, she slowly petted his head. Almost immediately Doggo started to yell, barking and yapping the word pet (along with pot.. pat…?), and he was vibrating in excitement.

“WHAT?! I’VE BEEN PET!!!” He shouted.  
  
Royal stood perfectly still, though giggling lightly, as his attack once again completely brushed by her. With a quick look at his yellow name, she spared him, trying not to burst out into laughter. His face just looked so  _confused_ and the tone of his voice- it was amazing.

_YOU WON!_

_Earned 0 XP and 30 gold._

“S-s… something pet me… something that isn’t m-moving… I’m gonna need some dog treats for this!” Doggo exclaimed, ducking back under his station.

When he was out of sight, Royal gawked at the amount of gold this one monster dropped. She scooped it up into her pockets, and turned around to flash the group a smile.

“Damn. Paid away fellas.” She said, making the group relax. Royal was safe, and they made bank doing so.

The group continued to walk along, almost making it away from the station, before they stopped. On the side of the path, were some… dog treats. Breanne bent down and picked one up, examining it.

“These are smoke-able dog treats. Shit, didn’t think something like this existed.” Breanne murmured, putting it back down.

“...How do you know that Breanne?” Nevada asked. Rivera, Scout, and Breanne both gave a knowing smile, but said nothing as they walked ahead, leaving a confused Nevada to catch up.

As soon as they entered the next region of the snowy underground, Rivera clenched their fists as they made eye contact with Sans.

“Ey bone boy!” Rivera shouted. “We just got attacked by a dog, where the fuck were you?!”

“Oh, you were? Can’t be everywhere, you know.” Sans joked, giving a wink. Geneva blushed, as Scout held Rivera back, trying not to let them go completely feral on Sans.

“Hey, here’s something important to remember.” Sans started. Geneva paid full attention to him, while the others listened in. “My brother has a very special attack. If you see a blue attack, don’t move and it won’t hurt you.”

“Oh, so that’s what it was!” Royal exclaimed, realizing something, “Doggo used that attack on me and told me not to move. So I didn’t, and it worked.”

“Royal your dumbass is lucky it worked this one time, do you think you should trust anyone who tells you he’s going to make sure you never move again?” Lexi questioned.

“I don’t know, this experience tells me I should.”

Sans had to grip his chest for a moment, wheezing out a laugh, before he stopped, continuing to talk.

“Here’s an easy way to keep it in mind. Imagine a stop sign. When you see a stop sign, you stop, right? Stops signs are red. So imagine a blue stop sign instead. Simple right? When fighting, think about blue stop signs.”

“So we need to think of you?” Nevada asked, “I mean, you’re blue, and small, and you make everyone stop when we see you because Riv wants to yell at you. If you’re going to die, think of Sans! His smile will fuel you with rage.” They waved their hands.

“I’m already angry and I haven’t even started thinking of him!” Royal said cheerfully.

“Thanks Sans! That's, uh, really smart actually...” Geneva told him.

“Geneva stop being hor- mMmhr-” Geneva quickly covered Rivera’s mouth before the could finish. Finally, Breanne picked the two up by the backs of their shirts.

“Go time.” She said, before they walked along, leaving Sans be.  
  
In front of them was a giant block of ice, covering the floor of the area, aside from small corners. Five of the group lept to it, sliding across the ice, some being better at it as others stumbled and tried not to fall.  
  
Nevada looked over to Royal, the two standing back, before Nevada started inching around the ice to avoid having to slip on it.  
  
Royal sighed. She slowly started to step onto the ice, trying to keep her balance as she wobbled precariously. To no avail, though, as despite her best efforts she toppled backward and fell on her ass.  
  
“Ow-!” Royal yelped, groaning in frustration. Rivera slid over, a grin on their face as they helped her up.  
  
The group crowded over to the left path, and though it led to another dead end, what awaited was a lopsided, smiling snowman. Walking closer, Rivera was surprised when it blinked at them.

“Oh, hello!” Rivera greeted, giving a smile. It was maybe a bit unnerving, but, hey, had to get used to this stuff at some point.

“Hello.” The snowman greeted back. “I am a snowman. I want to see the world… but I cannot move.”

Nevada suddenly appeared beside Rivera, a questioning look on their face as they leaned in to listen to the snowman.

“I’m sorry.” The two apologized.

“If you would be so kind, traveler, please… take a piece of me and bring it very far away.”

“Um.” Nevada glanced to Rivera, who nodded, “Yeah, sure!” They broke off a piece of the snowman, folding it into a ball in their hands.

“Thank you… good luck!” Snowman replied. Nevada nodded, giving a smile as they ran back to the group. Rivera waved them goodbye, before going off them self.

“‘Sup? You two talk to the snow bro over there?” Breanne asked, seeing them walk away from the path.

“Yup! Nevada got a piece of him to see the world…” Rivera replied. Everyone ‘ooo’ed, as Nevada showed it off.

“The only thing I'm worried about is finding a place for it where it won’t melt… I mean- we’re in basically Antarctica right now, but what if the entire Underground isn’t this cold?” Nevada studied the piece in their hands.

“You’re pocket.” Geneva said jokingly.  
  
Nevada glared momentarily before looking at Lexi who was insistently asking for the piece to try something. Nevada handed it over to her, curious as to what she had in mind.  
Lexi then proceeded to actually put it in her pocket. When it didn’t leave behind any type of bump, fill any space, etc, whatsoever, Lexi quickly opened the menu.

“You actually can put it in your pocket.” Lexi replied, looking over the SnowPiece in her inventory. She handed it back to Nevada, and they put it in their pocket, a look of faint surprise flashing across their face.

“Sweet! We got infinite space!” Rivera shouted.

“No we don’t.” Lexi replied, not even looking at them.

“Aww…” They sighed disappointingly.  
  
Only a few steps on the other path and the group saw the skeleton brothers. Again. Rivera bounced on their feet lightly, excitement evident in their bubbly movements. The group looked at each other (besides Rivera) knowingly.  
  
Rivera smiled brightly. They couldn’t help but feel happy every time they saw Papyrus when he was so cute! And definitely capable and strong, which they wanted to tell him badly. He didn’t need to be a royal guard for friends when there was a group  _right_ here that would be more than willing.  
  
That aside, they all stepped up in front of the… puzzle… maybe a puzzle. In front of them was just a big, cleared out space of snow, in the shape of a square.

“You’re so lazy!” Papyrus yelled at Sans, waving his arms around in dramatic gestures, “You were napping all night!”  
  
“I think that’s called… sleeping.” Sans replied.

“Excuses, excuses!”  
  
“Tell him Papyrus- wait, what?” Rivera and Scout started to shout before realizing the implications of what Papyrus just said.

Rivera stared blankly, then, “Papyrus, do you not sleep?!” They asked incredulously.

The others nervously laughed, wondering if he really did sleep or not. Papyrus turned to the group once they interrupted into the conversation, wearing a proud grin.

“Oh-ho! The humans arrive! In order to stop you… my brother and I have created some puzzles!” Shocking.

“Yeah boy. Hey.... Sans did you actually make a puzzle?” Rivera asked him skeptically.

“I made one.”

“Yeah Rivera. He made one.” Geneva snarked playfully, to which they scoffed.

“I’ll comment when I see it. Anyway sorry to interrupt Papyrus, continue.”

“Thank you.” He replied. “I think you will find this one quite shocking! For you see, this is the invisible Electricity Maze! When you touch the walls of this maze,” He pulled an item out of his scarf, “This orb will administer a hearty zap! Sound like fun? Because! The amount of fun you will probably have is actually rather small I think.”  
  
“....Please give me a moment.” Rivera told him politely.  
  
They turned around, quietly walking to the back of the group as they held their head. They stood silent for a moment before screaming, “FUCK.”

More nervous laughter came. Electricity was something that was genuinely dangerous, would they be okay going through?

“Exactly! Okay, you can go ahead now.” Papyrus gestured for anyone to come forward.

The group stayed very still, looking at the maze with apprehension.  
  
Just as Lexi was about to begrudgingly step into the maze, Nevada held up their hands, “Hey, wait, wait. Couldn’t we just…” They held out their stick into the maze, waving it through and paused when it seemed to hit an invisible block.  
  
What was surprising however was when suddenly the orb in Papyrus’ hands glowed fiercely and a bolt of electricity went through him instead of anyone else being affected.

“NO-” Rivera and Scout screamed, stopping abruptly when noticing Papyrus seemed to be completely fine, only looking irritated.

“Ah. He was… still holding the orb...” Nevada whispered, causing Royal to fall to the ground in a fit of laughter. Breanne chuckled.

“Sans!” Papyrus screamed. “What did you do?!”

“I think the human has to hold the orb.” He replied.

“Oh, okay.” Papyrus strided through the maze with ease, obviously having remembered the correct route to go, his footprints making a visible path. He stopped in front of Rivera, who looked at him worryingly.

“Dude, are you okay?”

“I am! Now hold this please!” Papyrus requested, tossing the orb on their head. Somehow, it didn’t fall off. Rivera made an uncomfortable noise as Papyrus walked back to his original position.

“Okay, try now!” He told them.  
  
Rivera stared at the maze, glanced back at their friends, and then looked back at the maze. They knew Papyrus  _just_ made a visible path, his footsteps were  _right there_. But they still weren’t 100% sure if they would make it out okay.

They finally carefully stepped into the maze after mulling over their options, and took cautious measures to make sure they followed his path to a T. When they got to the end, they put their hands on their knees and sighed in relief.

“Incredible, you slippery snail!” Papyrus shouted, and Rivera smiled at him, though still feeling a sense of anxiety.

“Ey, I like snails.” They replied.

“You solved it so easily… too easily!”

“...Fuck man, I sure did.”

“However!” Papyrus suddenly bounced back, looking at them with bravado. “The next puzzle will not be so easy! It is designed by my brother, Sans!”

“Wait, hold up. Who let  _Sans_ \- little lazy ass bitch- design a puzzle? Not make one, no,  _design_ one?! Who did that?” Rivera shouted.

Papyrus blinked. Sans stayed still behind him, though his grin seemed to grow wider.

“Do not judge before you see it.” Papyrus told them, before continuing off where he was speaking. “You will surely be confounded! I know I am! Nyeh heh heh heh!”  
  
Papyrus ran off, and Rivera noticed with a sense of confusion the orb on their head had disappeared. Did he take it when they weren’t looking? Ah, well, whatever.  
  
The rest of the group walked over, the maze now being gone. Not paying attention to some of the members checking them over, Rivera stared at where Papyrus was before, wondering what kind of thing Sans could have  _possibly_ made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry once again for a lack of an update last Friday! With things so hectic, next Friday might be missed as well. I apologize in advance if it happens. Otherwise, things should be kept on track after that.


End file.
